Being the light

I wanted to take this opportunity to just make note of something that I experienced last Friday. As I've begun to experience the life of teaching, I've noticed that it is extremely easy to become discouraged. The students don't behave when you need them too most, the clock runs out half way through a lesson, absent students demand work from a week ago when you're barely capable of recalling yesterday, faculty meetings, differentiated instruction, picky teacher aides, fighting in the hallways, parent-teacher confrontations... the list is endless.

Yet perserverance does not go unnoticed. You may not take realize it, but there are many people that make observations of your daily struggle. After a long Friday, the principal of the school took time out of her day to visit me during my period off. Even a quick 'hello' would have been encouraging, knowing that her day is far more chaotic than my own. But to my surprise, she sat and talked with me for about fifteen minutes, and what she had to say was remarkable. Just at a time when I felt like a meaningless spoke in a greater wheel, she proceeded to tell me about the high praises I was recieving from multiple people. Completely genuine in her encouragement, she wanted me to know that my efforts do not go unnoticed and that she was so thankful for my service in the West Milford school district.

I could not help but to reflect on the words of Jesus, saying that our deeds done in quiet are seen by the Father and will be brought to the light. Our daily struggle as teachers is not exclusive to our own little world. It is on display for all to see, and people watch us intently. As Christians, we should be all the more prepared to be Jesus for those around us, letting our light shine before others. For better or for worse, people will watch us the rest of our careers and lives for that matter. What will we look like?

Strength Finder Test

I should probably begin by saying that I was not surprised in the slightest about my strength finder test. My results came back in the following order; Achiever, Intellection, Discipline, Input, Competition. One could read that list and immediately assume that I am a cold hearted, isolated individual that seeks success and is addicted to the high-strung American business culture. Before jumping to that conclusion, I took the time to reflect on what each strength means and how they work collectively. As an achiever, I have a fire that burns within me to constantly keep going and to never settle for less. Intellection is an appreciation for intra-personal dialogue and an appreciation for deep reflection. Discipline offers strength in establishing order and following routine. Input focuses on being inquisitive and attempting to absorb understanding with regard to world around oneself. Competition is the self-motivation that fuels the fire that I have as an Achiever. 

Collectively, I feel that these are actually a strong balance of strengths to have. My traits that drive me toward success and achieving goals are paced and balanced by my traits that beckon me to reflect and inquire about the nature of such success. While one personality drives me, the other slows me down, rendering my movement as an individual to a steady pace.

Having taken this strength finder, it is actually quite interesting to see how these strengths come into play with my teaching style. I love routine, especially in the classroom. My students know that when they walk in, they will be answering a Do Now, followed by discussion, followed by notes, followed by an activity, and concluded with reflection and independent practice. Discipline not only extends to routine, but also to class room atmosphere. I am beginning to grow into my discipline style and my students are beginning to learn what is and is not acceptable during the class period. Achiever is also quite prevalent in my teaching, as I seem to have something inside of me that always says that I am not doing enough. I really seek my student’s success and satisfaction in my teaching. I am always trying to incorporate something new, something they can gravitate towards, so that I can watch them learn the material more completely. I even see my Intellection trait in my teaching style. Much of my homework is reflection based and the homework is then openly discussed and shared the following morning. My questions are geared towards students’ inner thoughts and promote metacognition and self-awareness.

All this being said, I would like to try and tap into my other two strengths; input and competition. I feel that input is difficult because it is an intrinsic motivation. The students have the majority of control over whether or not they are inquisitive with the material. However, I think I could tap into this strength by offering suggested extra-credit book/article readings for students desiring to learn more about the subject material. As well, I feel that Competition is an extremely valuable resource when trying to promote intrinsic motivation. Competition has the potential to drive individuals above and beyond their own expectations and self-made limitations. I feel that could incorporate competition in the classroom by offering either privileges or extra credit to high-performing students during class activities like debates and mock trials. All this being said, I am glad that I took the strength finder test. I feel far more equipped as a teacher to help my students, simply because I better know myself.

Those Lost and Those Found

Having been in the education department for four years now, I often heard stories about how important a teacher could be in changing a student's life. In my mind, I don't think that I ever really came to terms with that. I thought it was "cute," something made up in Hollywood, a pipe dream of sorts. But student teaching has greatly altered my perspective on that.

Between seminar touching on our philosophy of teaching and some events that occurred this week, I began to realize my role as a teacher in students’ lives. One of the stories that has come out of this surrounds one of my students who moved to West Milford last year. Upon entering the school, this student had no motivation to succeed or respect for himself. Right as I began to take over teaching, this student was able to pick up his social studies grade to a low C with great help from my cooperating teacher. Yet he was still struggling, especially outside the classroom with getting in fights.

I had noticed that most of the other students treated his opinions as inferior and would make fun of him for whatever answer he was giving to the cooperating teacher. Taking note of this, I made every effort to validate his perspective in front of the class. After about two days, the class would no longer tell him to put his hand down because “he had nothing good to say.” And the results were amazing.

Simply by giving the student a voice that was respected, he responded by doing every homework assignment and began to score high on quizzes. Just yesterday, upon leaving the classroom, the student called out to me before leaving and said, “Hey Mr. Callamari! I’m studying for you tonight!” I can’t even begin to say how good that made me feel.

Sometimes its hard to give it your all. When your class is not responding or disrespecting your authority, it is extremely difficult to continue the long battle of caring for students. But there is a victory to be won, and it is true that sometimes, the lost can be found.

Presenting on Israel

This past Friday, I had the unique opportunity to present a lesson based on my experiences overseas last semester. It is not often that students have the opportunity to have a learning experience that is outside of the textbook and explained first hand. Mr. Trentacosta was equally excited to hear about my experiences in Israel, and allowed me to teach the entire day!

I must say, I was a bit nervous, having only taught a few, sporadic lessons thus far. Yet I knew that this would be a great opportunity to break the ice with my classes and to work on my communication skills while I was teaching something I was passionate about. So, it was a full day for me!

First period I presented my power point to Honors level US Civics. I was a little surprised by the lack of focus in the honors class, but considering that it was Friday, students across all learning levels were seemingly out of control. For all their rowdiness, Period 1 had a great deal of intelligent questions. In fact, there were so many questions and comments that I actually did not have an opportunity to finish my presentation before the bell rang.

As disappointed as I was that I did not finish my lesson before the bell rang, I told myself that time management is one of the most difficult components of teaching for student teachers to get a grasp of.  I saw the lesson from Period 1 as a learning opportunity for Period 2, 3 and 5.

As the day progressed, each lesson was delivered more smoothly than the first. All the while, I began to realize what I could cut out from my presentation and what was more important to emphasize on. Even my ability to ask thought provoking questions increased immensely by the time I arrived at fifth period.

With my voice almost gone at this point and my head slightly dizzy from the amount of talking I had done, I headed down to the Cafeteria to watch over student conduct during lunch. To my surprise, two other social studies teachers in the school approached me on possibly teaching some of their classes about my trip to Israel. I was really shocked by that, but told them that I gladly would.

I once heard it said that a pastor will always leave the pulpit feeling like he failed to deliver the message well. I think the same can be said about teaching. I beat myself up for all my small mistakes rather than looking at any of my positives. And while I may have thought myself a failure, others found it to be a superb presentation. That sure was the encouragement that I needed!