Maria Lunsford

I am feeling quite triumphant about the fact that this semester is almost over. My classroom is already very different from the way it was in the beginning of the year, for good and bad reasons.  I think the students are either giving me less trouble on a given day than they would before, but the trouble they're giving me is more ... annoying.  I wish I didn't know their idiosyncrasies so well.  The little, "Ma' LUNFA MAKE HIM STOP TAPPING HIS FOOT ON MY DESK"s that happen every day are really getting on my nerves. I do think I have a good rapport with them now, which is great.  Dr. Monroe said early on in the Summer that we wanted the students to "not fear you, but fear disappointing you."  I feel like this is finally the case in my classroom and that makes me really happy.

I have to preface this by saying that I was about 3 feet away from Secretary Arne Duncan this May at a Neko Case concert in DC.  She brought him up on stage to talk to us about how educators are very important and we should all thank them and maybe consider being one.  James was there, too, and we gave ourselves preemptive pats on the back, and it’s so funny and surreal that now I’m reflecting on his speech with a whole heap of understanding that I lacked back in May. I’d say that then I didn’t even know why an educator was important.  I thought I did, but I didn’t.

            While reading this speech, I was trying to figure out what Arne Duncan thinks a “good teacher” is.  He uses the words “talent” and “calling,” which makes me think that he feels some people are born with a gift to teach (and I am currently thinking that the gift involves being a very engaging person and a very patient one).  Secretary Duncan wants to attract and retain  “great talent,” and he wants this talent to come from a teaching preparation program that can consistently churn out teachers that have high “student performance.”  I am guessing, though I was not sure from the article, that student performance is based on performance on standardized tests.  Basing it on letter grades would be too subjective, so standardized test scores are the only things that make sense.  Sec. Duncan speaks about “that one teacher” that we’ll never forget.  I’d say that most of us teachers had that one teacher.  I definitely did, but I can tell you for sure that “increased performance” were two words that never crossed her mind.  Mind you, we were NOT in a critical-needs school, so the circumstances were different.. I do firmly believe, though, that the reason why she was so wonderful and effective and engaging was because she was creating that kind of infectious enthusiasm for learning that Sec. Duncan speaks about in his speech.  She had a lot of trouble from the administration and downright refused to write the objective on her board every day.  Maybe some days I could not tell you what, in concrete terms, I was supposed to do in that classroom (ie. Find the direct object of a sentence.)  However, I learned so much from that class- about how to be a discerning, thoughtful, self-sufficient human being who can rely on my own capacity for rational thought- a skill that is priceless and would do every single one of my students a world of good.   I came into this profession with those dreamy visions in my head and I am unwilling to give them up.  I don’t have as much opportunity to influence my students in this way while teaching Pre-Algebra, or at least my fervor and passion don’t exist as much there and my talent feels buried sometimes.  I DO feel, though, that if the “strong anti-intellectual bias, enhanced by a total lack of imagination” were not present in teaching programs (in general, I’m not really talking about most MTC classes here) that would be a great asset to teachers.  My problems in teaching Math, though, lie in a lack of concrete skills provided to me.  I would LOVE for someone to come to me and say, “Here are 4 things you can do to have a more engaging math lesson.” Or “Here is a way to make a test that looks like the MCT2.”  This is what I need to be more effective.  

I have to preface this by saying that I was about 3 feet away from Secretary Arne Duncan this May at a Neko Case concert in DC.  She brought him up on stage to talk to us about how educators are very important and we should all thank them and maybe consider being one.  James was there, too, and we gave ourselves preemptive pats on the back, and it’s so funny and surreal that now I’m reflecting on his speech with a whole heap of understanding that I lacked back in May. I’d say that then I didn’t even know why an educator was important.  I thought I did, but I didn’t.

            While reading this speech, I was trying to figure out what Arne Duncan thinks a “good teacher” is.  He uses the words “talent” and “calling,” which makes me think that he feels some people are born with a gift to teach (and I am currently thinking that the gift involves being a very engaging person and a very patient one).  Secretary Duncan wants to attract and retain  “great talent,” and he wants this talent to come from a teaching preparation program that can consistently churn out teachers that have high “student performance.”  I am guessing, though I was not sure from the article, that student performance is based on performance on standardized tests.  Basing it on letter grades would be too subjective, so standardized test scores are the only things that make sense.  Sec. Duncan speaks about “that one teacher” that we’ll never forget.  I’d say that most of us teachers had that one teacher.  I definitely did, but I can tell you for sure that “increased performance” were two words that never crossed her mind.  Mind you, we were NOT in a critical-needs school, so the circumstances were different.. I do firmly believe, though, that the reason why she was so wonderful and effective and engaging was because she was creating that kind of infectious enthusiasm for learning that Sec. Duncan speaks about in his speech.  She had a lot of trouble from the administration and downright refused to write the objective on her board every day.  Maybe some days I could not tell you what, in concrete terms, I was supposed to do in that classroom (ie. Find the direct object of a sentence.)  However, I learned so much from that class- about how to be a discerning, thoughtful, self-sufficient human being who can rely on my own capacity for rational thought- a skill that is priceless and would do every single one of my students a world of good.   I came into this profession with those dreamy visions in my head and I am unwilling to give them up.  I don’t have as much opportunity to influence my students in this way while teaching Pre-Algebra, or at least my fervor and passion don’t exist as much there and my talent feels buried sometimes.  I DO feel, though, that if the “strong anti-intellectual bias, enhanced by a total lack of imagination” were not present in teaching programs (in general, I’m not really talking about most MTC classes here) that would be a great asset to teachers.  My problems in teaching Math, though, lie in a lack of concrete skills provided to me.  I would LOVE for someone to come to me and say, “Here are 4 things you can do to have a more engaging math lesson.” Or “Here is a way to make a test that looks like the MCT2.”  This is what I need to be more effective.  

I have to preface this by saying that I was about 3 feet away from Secretary Arne Duncan this May at a Neko Case concert in DC.  She brought him up on stage to talk to us about how educators are very important and we should all thank them and maybe consider being one.  James was there, too, and we gave ourselves preemptive pats on the back, and it’s so funny and surreal that now I’m reflecting on his speech with a whole heap of understanding that I lacked back in May. I’d say that then I didn’t even know why an educator was important.  I thought I did, but I didn’t.

            While reading this speech, I was trying to figure out what Arne Duncan thinks a “good teacher” is.  He uses the words “talent” and “calling,” which makes me think that he feels some people are born with a gift to teach (and I am currently thinking that the gift involves being a very engaging person and a very patient one).  Secretary Duncan wants to attract and retain  “great talent,” and he wants this talent to come from a teaching preparation program that can consistently churn out teachers that have high “student performance.”  I am guessing, though I was not sure from the article, that student performance is based on performance on standardized tests.  Basing it on letter grades would be too subjective, so standardized test scores are the only things that make sense.  Sec. Duncan speaks about “that one teacher” that we’ll never forget.  I’d say that most of us teachers had that one teacher.  I definitely did, but I can tell you for sure that “increased performance” were two words that never crossed her mind.  Mind you, we were NOT in a critical-needs school, so the circumstances were different.. I do firmly believe, though, that the reason why she was so wonderful and effective and engaging was because she was creating that kind of infectious enthusiasm for learning that Sec. Duncan speaks about in his speech.  She had a lot of trouble from the administration and downright refused to write the objective on her board every day.  Maybe some days I could not tell you what, in concrete terms, I was supposed to do in that classroom (ie. Find the direct object of a sentence.)  However, I learned so much from that class- about how to be a discerning, thoughtful, self-sufficient human being who can rely on my own capacity for rational thought- a skill that is priceless and would do every single one of my students a world of good.   I came into this profession with those dreamy visions in my head and I am unwilling to give them up.  I don’t have as much opportunity to influence my students in this way while teaching Pre-Algebra, or at least my fervor and passion don’t exist as much there and my talent feels buried sometimes.  I DO feel, though, that if the “strong anti-intellectual bias, enhanced by a total lack of imagination” were not present in teaching programs (in general, I’m not really talking about most MTC classes here) that would be a great asset to teachers.  My problems in teaching Math, though, lie in a lack of concrete skills provided to me.  I would LOVE for someone to come to me and say, “Here are 4 things you can do to have a more engaging math lesson.” Or “Here is a way to make a test that looks like the MCT2.”  This is what I need to be more effective.  

I can't say that I have a "success story" with a particular student.  However, I do hear from my kids often that I explain math well and that they have never liked math until this year.  Kids will say things like that to be flatterers and get positive attention, but I hear it so often and from so many different students that I am beginning to believe it.  

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I am responding to an article found here.

The articles that I am responding to can be found here and here.

My classroom management has not changed very much since the beginning of the year.  My rules and consequences are all still the same. I still pull tickets for a drawing every friday and I still have a number line for my class competitions. 

For a while my students and I slowly edged away from the “raise your hand to use your voice or leave your seat” rule, mainly the “use your voice” part.  However, that quickly deteriorated and that rule is back stronger than ever.  I wish I was giving less and less consequences throughout the year but that’s not the case- I give A LOT of writing assignments. They still seem to be effective at least for the duration of the class in which they are issued.  

I underestimated the power of good classroom activities in my “philosophy of classroom management.”  I truly believe that, despite all the nonsense that crops up on a day-to-day basis, my kids want to do something “fun” in my classroom and they don’t care if they learn by accident.  Hayley always says, “trick them into doing work,” and that is the direction I need to take my lessons.  If there is dead air, they start talking, so I need to make my classes jam-packed with “fun” activities.  They’re bored and restless and so am I, so novelty is very welcome.

I do have one slight problem in a particular student.  She often says things to me like, “Ms. Lunsford, are you in a bad mood today?” during the beginning of 5th period (a class that is about 9 students larger than all my other classes) when I start slinging writing assignments and zeroes for students who did not sit down to begin the bellwork.  No, thirteen-year-old, I am not in a bad mood, you guys are expected to sit down and do  your work and when you choose to stand up and talk there are consequences, end of story.  She also says “You look like a teenager” and when I gave a zero to a student for cheating on a test then wrote him up for disobedience she said, “Alright Ms. Lunsford, looks like you got your attitude worked out!”  I don’t know what her intentions are, she’s a mildly good student, but her words can be so undermining and it frustrates me.  The kids have a problem with responsibility and would just love for everything that happens in my classroom to be based on my mood and not their choices.

(This is a response to Ruby Payne's book A Framework for Understanding Poverty.

I found Ruby Payne's account of poverty and its effects on our students eye-opening. It provided reasons for some of the obstacles that I have noticed in my classroom in a way that I never would have guessed.

I think the most important change that I will make in my classroom is to make a strong emphasis on procedural self-talk. I have one class in particular that I kept thinking of when Ms Payne described the lack of self-talk, the partially-completed work, and the frequent "quitting."  Most of my classes are actually quite willing to do the work, and have learned how to ask actual questions instead of, "I don't get it."

My fifth period class is another story. Even on the days when I think I have taught an awesome lesson, at least eight students will sit back and do nothing until I come over and say, "What are you doing?" and they say, "I don't get it." "What don't you get?"  "It. All of it."   This is SO FRUSTRATING when they have been instructed and shown a billion times that at LEAST they could figure out the first step of how to solve the problem, which is usually very simple.

If I focus very specifically on procedural self-talk in my lessons, I think this situation will improve.

I think another one of my main problems in the classroom is using my "Parent Voice" instead of my "Adult Voice."  I really do feel awfully maternal sometimes.  It's interesting that Payne suggests that we should build strong relationships with our students, but the Adult voice is very detached and objective.  I think if I took the adult voice position with my students more, it would very much change the relationship I have with them.  

I'll try this week to implement these two procedures more and see what impact it has on my students and overall classroom tone.

There have been tons of these, but I would like to share a quick and awesome one.