Last night, I returned from a short weekend at Placencia. It had rained all of last week, and I needed to get out of PG for a little bit. The bus from Independence returned to PG at about 3:30. Elana had iguana and the best chicken I've ever tasted waiting for me, so I ate some. It took me a long time since there was so much food. I left her house at about 4:50 in order to go to the internet cafe and get some work done.
I was going to do a Power Point presentation on modern advertising today. I say modern, because the stuff in their (poorly edited) copyright 2005 textbook only had examples of text-only advertisements. Really? I think text-only ads comprise the barest, tiniest fraction of the amount of advertising teenagers view. How many text-only ads do you see in Seventeen? Online? Television? Hello?!
How can you expect today's kids to learn to think about modern advertising, which is heavily funded, heavily researched, and heavily persuasive, if you don't teach them using modern advertisements? How hard would it have been to obtain a real magazine ad or two for the textbook?
Anyway, the internet cafes were closed. That was the beginning of my problems. I walked way out to Christina Coc's in order to use her computer for my presentation. I wrote a wicked Power Point at Christina's place. I had Ralph Lauren perfume ads. I had examples of Photoshopped images from Redbook (before and after). I had Subaru. I had Blackberry. I was going to help these kids take them all down. Hoo-rah! I had already arranged for all the technology I was going to need. I asked Ms. Kile for permission to use her laptop for one 40 minute session. I asked the principal, Mr. Chan, if I could use his projector and screen. I asked the computer lab teacher if I could use his extra speakers. I borrowed Eddie's Flash drive so I could transfer everything to Ms. Kile's computer. I was ready to rock.
Unfortunately, it was very late by the time I left Christina's. Like 9:30. I only had to walk a little way, but I dreaded starting the walk. Punta Gorda's citizens are very friendly and safe; unfortunately, people from out of town have started to take advantage of that sense of security. They come in and do things like kidnap cab drivers. Add this to the fact that I was a female walking at night...well, you know.
The first car that I heard on the road thankfully went right by me without even slowing down. I was relieved. Then I heard another one - and he slowed down. Expletives sparked through my brain. I tried to walk away from the road, but it was extremely muddy due to the fact that it had been raining for a week. Yay!
"I don't need a ride," I said.
"Do you need a ride?" he said.
"No. I'm fine."
"You look scared."
That's because it's late at night and some strange guy is offering me a ride..."I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, um, you can leave me alone now."
"Okay..."
Yeah, that's exactly what I said. He drove off. Maybe I was a little harsh. He probably meant well. But honestly, I have yet to see any non-tourist get offered a ride. I don't understand why people keep offering me rides. I'd have to be a flaming idiot. It's not like stories about kidnapped, murdered tourists aren't widely known. They are. If a person's well-meaning, why would they even ask? So that leads me to believe that the only people who ask are not well-meaning.
Okay, so there was that. Then Ms. Kile didn't show up today. At all. I ended up using the sterile textbook examples. Teaching fail.
Despite incidents like these, Belize and teaching are still a lot of fun. Sometimes I don't feel like getting up and going to TCC in the morning. But as soon as I get there, I settle in and start enjoying myself. I wonder how I'll feel about Ordean Middle School in Duluth?
Monday, February 9, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Updates on Teaching
Well, to begin with, the weather hasn't improved. I haven't been to the pier since Sunday, and I'm not missing anything. It's currently very windy and raining occasionally. I ended up buying an umbrella because the cheap poncho I brought with me just got to be too much of a hassle. Taking it on and off takes about a minute of fussing, whereas opening an umbrella takes two seconds. Also, one of my students made fun of me for wearing it at school: "Miss, that's cheap!" Can't be looking cheap in front of my students. I wish he could have seen it in a more positive light: "Miss, that's thrifty, since there's no reason you'd bring a cheap umbrella back to the States, so why buy one and waste money?" Oh well. I'm glad I bought it. Ironically, I left it at home today because it was sunny this morning. Yeah, it rained. Luckily it only rained at times when I didn't have to go outside to travel between classes. I got to stay inside and make posters about grammar!
I have recently learned that there is a laptop-projector combo available on the TCC campus. Teachers can use it, but unfortunately it belongs to the principal. So I can't make regular use of it. I do plan on using it next week for a 2-3 day lesson on advertising. Have you ever seen the Dove ad "Evolution"? Look it up. I love using it with teenagers because it really shocks them. I can't wait - I think it will knock these kids' socks off. In addition to the commercial, I'll create a power point presentation in which I'll place tons of examples of advertising techniques (in the context of advertisements themselves, of course). It's hard to become less dependent on technology, and I became so used to using it back in the States. While I think that a person can be a fantastic and very effective teacher without using computers and the internet, I do feel that technology brings a whole lot of benefits to teaching. And actually, I think that it's going to become more and more difficult to be a competitive and effective teacher without using technology. The fact of the matter is that our students are becoming increasingly involved with computers, the internet, iPods, etc. That's just the way the world is moving. If we don't employ technology in our classrooms, our students are probably going to be at a disadvantage.
Now, the trick is teaching a concept with technology, not teaching the technology itself. For instance, I want to use technology for my advertising lesson because I can use computers/internet to bring very relevant material into play. What's the point of using a mock ad from the textbook when I can discuss the concepts I want to discuss in relation to advertisements made for real products? That's why I dislike English many English textbooks, although they do save time. They don't often present the English language in ways that the students can relate to. They force the students to adapt to a curriculum instead of forcing the curriculum to adapt to the students. We want to teach kids to use the language skills they learn in the classroom out in the "real" world. How can we do that if we don't use "real" material?
Anyway, since I'm already on the topic of teaching, I can happily report that it's going better. I've come to some important conclusions about myself and about professional life. First, I've learned that the better I am at doing something, the more I like doing it. My first few weeks of student teaching were rough, but now I'm getting better at it and behold: I'm having more fun!
I've also learned that teaching is about small steps and small successes. I can't take 40 17-year-olds and teach them how to write fantastic persuasive essays in perfectly formal English in two weeks. In fact, I don't think anyone can (especially when they're throwing folders at each other). But I can get them to use more specifics and evidence in their writing, and I can teach them better ways to develop and organize their ideas. That's respectable progress.
Finally, I've learned that I have to take care of myself. I have to pay attention to the things that are important to me, like yoga, running, reading, writing, and calling the people that I miss (a lot). If I don't do these things, I get depressed pretty quickly. Sad, angry Ellen = bad teacher Ellen. I'm already a pretty wired, jumpy person. I pace around the classroom and dance in the staffroom. I don't need to myself more jumpy through extra stress!
Speaking of stress, however, I do need to do some student-teaching related tasks. If I don't get them done this afternoon, I'll be stressed. So I must bring this post to a close. I will try to post again later this week (with pictures).
3.5 weeks of teaching left! That number is sad and happy at the same time.
I have recently learned that there is a laptop-projector combo available on the TCC campus. Teachers can use it, but unfortunately it belongs to the principal. So I can't make regular use of it. I do plan on using it next week for a 2-3 day lesson on advertising. Have you ever seen the Dove ad "Evolution"? Look it up. I love using it with teenagers because it really shocks them. I can't wait - I think it will knock these kids' socks off. In addition to the commercial, I'll create a power point presentation in which I'll place tons of examples of advertising techniques (in the context of advertisements themselves, of course). It's hard to become less dependent on technology, and I became so used to using it back in the States. While I think that a person can be a fantastic and very effective teacher without using computers and the internet, I do feel that technology brings a whole lot of benefits to teaching. And actually, I think that it's going to become more and more difficult to be a competitive and effective teacher without using technology. The fact of the matter is that our students are becoming increasingly involved with computers, the internet, iPods, etc. That's just the way the world is moving. If we don't employ technology in our classrooms, our students are probably going to be at a disadvantage.
Now, the trick is teaching a concept with technology, not teaching the technology itself. For instance, I want to use technology for my advertising lesson because I can use computers/internet to bring very relevant material into play. What's the point of using a mock ad from the textbook when I can discuss the concepts I want to discuss in relation to advertisements made for real products? That's why I dislike English many English textbooks, although they do save time. They don't often present the English language in ways that the students can relate to. They force the students to adapt to a curriculum instead of forcing the curriculum to adapt to the students. We want to teach kids to use the language skills they learn in the classroom out in the "real" world. How can we do that if we don't use "real" material?
Anyway, since I'm already on the topic of teaching, I can happily report that it's going better. I've come to some important conclusions about myself and about professional life. First, I've learned that the better I am at doing something, the more I like doing it. My first few weeks of student teaching were rough, but now I'm getting better at it and behold: I'm having more fun!
I've also learned that teaching is about small steps and small successes. I can't take 40 17-year-olds and teach them how to write fantastic persuasive essays in perfectly formal English in two weeks. In fact, I don't think anyone can (especially when they're throwing folders at each other). But I can get them to use more specifics and evidence in their writing, and I can teach them better ways to develop and organize their ideas. That's respectable progress.
Finally, I've learned that I have to take care of myself. I have to pay attention to the things that are important to me, like yoga, running, reading, writing, and calling the people that I miss (a lot). If I don't do these things, I get depressed pretty quickly. Sad, angry Ellen = bad teacher Ellen. I'm already a pretty wired, jumpy person. I pace around the classroom and dance in the staffroom. I don't need to myself more jumpy through extra stress!
Speaking of stress, however, I do need to do some student-teaching related tasks. If I don't get them done this afternoon, I'll be stressed. So I must bring this post to a close. I will try to post again later this week (with pictures).
3.5 weeks of teaching left! That number is sad and happy at the same time.
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