Sup Teach?

I’m not a teacher. Not yet, at least. But I’m learning to become one. As a brand new Teach For America corps member, I’m experiencing some hardcore challenges at this summer’s institute in New York City. Oh, you’ll hear plenty about it (like how we get up at 5AM every morning with an average of 3-4 hours of sleep per night). But before we get to that stuff, I’d like to start off with a hopeful post I wrote last week that in many ways explains why I’m doing what I’m doing, why I love it, and why it’s possible that I could hate it sometimes too. Enjoy.

I laid down the law in math class today. Laid down the freakin’ law.

Ryan is a smart kid. I’d say he’s the smartest kid in my class. But Ryan’s problem is that he has the attention span of a cockroach. He moves around a lot and always bothers the other kids. My theory is that he’s just bored with the material because it’s too easy for him. I think I’m going to give him a folder filled with really tough worksheets so that he has something to work on every time he finishes his work about 100 light years ahead of his classmates.

As usual, Ryan was wreaking havoc in his little corner on the rug.

But as soon I gave little Ryan a second warning and wrote his name under the “Warnings” list on the board, he sat on his bottom, zipped his mouth shut, locked it for 10 seconds, and threw away the key.

Man, it always surprises me how this stuff actually works.

Kids are so cute though! This experience has tremendously changed the way I look at kids. I used to think kids would be the bane of my existence; beings that I would never be able to comprehend. I used to be passive about kids, or just plain not notice them. But now, whether I’m on a playground, on the subway, or in a grocery store…I always notice the kids. I notice what they say, and what they’re doing. I’m able to appreciate how inquisitive they are, and how quickly they can make connections and retain information.

For example, I was at the Natural History Museum in Manhattan on the 4th of July, and I saw this kid climbing on the statue of President Teddy Roosevelt sitting on his horse. The statue is pretty tall, so I said to the kid, “Be careful, ok?” And the following hilarious conversation ensues:

kid: It’s ok. Did you know that kids can climb really good? Because we come from monkeys.
me: Oh? Do you mean that there is a connection between humans and monkeys?
kid: Yea.
me: Did you learn that in the museum?
kid: Yea, but they’re different because they can grab things with their feet.
me: Can you grab things with your feet?
kid: No. Well, yea. But I can just hold things in between my toes!

Mind you, this kid was VERY young! Can you imagine having a conversation like this with someone 2 and half feet tall? Haha…oh kids.

And yesterday, when I was teaching 2-digit subtraction, Angie raises her hand, and out of nowhere says, “Miss Sapida, your hair is really pretty today.”

…

How do I respond to something like that in the middle of my lesson?!

Caught totally off guard, all I could say was, “That’s very nice of you Angie, but let’s focus on subtraction now.”

Today, when we were learning about picture graphs, another kid named Julian took a thread from his sock and started flossing his teeth with it.

Unbelievably hilarious.

And no matter how much he wasn’t paying attention, I couldn’t get mad at him, because I’d ask him a question to test if he was listening, and he always got the answer right! He’d just blurt it out without even having to look up at the board or at me.

Julian is a very smart kid. Very smart. He just has trouble listening to me because he struggles with English. When it comes to numbers though, Julian eats it up like cake.

I was telling my friend today that I hope each of these kids has someone who takes advantage of their resilient ability to learn. They’re like empty vessels that soak up things like a sponge! It would be a shame to let that go to waste.

I’ve seen people let it go to waste. I’ve seen teachers underestimate their students, failing to challenge them. “Dumb it down for them. They’re 6.” No! I won’t “dumb it down.” They’re going to learn rigorously because they can. I’ve seen them do it.

In response to Mr. G’s post, this underestimation of students’ potential is another reason why it’s so difficult to close the achievement gap. You expect that the kids can’t learn, so they don’t. It’s not rock science.

Thanks for reading