Kate.Mendoza's blog

La vida

I haven't blogged since last fall, I believe, and so it is time for an update.  

I am currently not working as a teacher.  I was offered a job in Hattiesburg, teaching between two different schools on 2 different campuses and 3 preps, and I was not sure that Carlos (my fiancé) was going to get his visa to be able to come to the U.S. at that time, so I turned them down.  Since then, I've been working on an air force base a few hours a day and looking for a job during the day.  

I will be working as either a sub or a bank teller starting in October.  As a sub, I'll be subbing in high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools all over the coast.  Currently, I'm signed up to sub in all the preschools around Ocean Springs, and the one I find most interesting is the Montessori school.  If you don't know anything about Montessori, look it up.  It's amazing.  

I've observed now twice and I am fascinated by it.  The children are quiet and orderly.  They choose their lessons, and they can do them on their own or they may ask for a teacher to give them a lesson.  They get out small rugs and take their lesson off the shelf and bring it to the rug.  They put things back quietly and one at a time.  The older kids can read books to the younger kids, to themselves, or to a teacher.

There are no classrooms.  There is one big schoolroom of centers.  The children are not separated by age group.  There are 4 teachers, and they walk through the school so as to be available for students.  The students complete their contracts for the day (they sign contracts saying what they want to do that day in each center) and when they complete them they can do lessons or read books or play or do what they like orderly y quietly.  

This preschool has so impressed me that I am thinking about training for Montessori when I have the time.  I'm getting married in November to a man I met when I was studying abroad in Mexico, so once we get that out of the way and can get a work permit for him. I may try it.  My first sub job there is Friday, so we'll see!

Required: Why shouldn't you join the Mississippi Teacher Corps?

Hmph.  Why shouldn't you join the Mississippi Teacher Corps?  You shouldn't join if you want to have an easy job.  You shouldn't join if you're looking for a stress-free life.  You shouldn't join if you like being responsible for you and only you.  You shouldn't join if you want to work eight-hour days.  

The nitty-gritty: teaching's brutally hard the first year, maybe even the second year.  My first semester, my counselor reccommended that I go on anti-depressants.  I did, and I sure needed them.  I cried myself to sleep every night.  I couldn't handle that much stress that fast.  I really hated the responsibility.  At age 21 and one month, I was handed the reins in a classroom, and told to go at it.  I did the best I could, but suddenly being in loco parentis for students a couple years younger than me was too much.  I wasn't ready for parenthood, but that's what so many of my kids needed from me.  I couldn't give it.  Now, a year and a half down a road full of trial-by-fires, I look back and see so much of the pain that God used to make me the teacher I am today.  I love what I do, most days, and the days I don't are nothing compared with all that I've lived through already.  Even if you think you’ll have this rosy outcome, please don’t join the Teacher Corps in expectation of that.

Teaching's stressful, until you've done it for enough years.  My father could recite theorems in his sleep, and I'm sure does some mornings, but I still stress sometimes to pull it all together.  It's hard to stay consistent and stay on top of everything.  That's probably the hardest struggle in teaching.  Consistency, consistency in keeping it together, grades, procedures, non-teaching crap you're meant to deal with from the office and the district, duties, etc.  It's extremely stressful and can wear you down until you find your own system for dealing with everything.  A system is very important, I find, and the only way I get along, basically, without over-stressing.  If you want a low-stress job, become a politician, not a teacher.

You will work more as a teacher than you ever have in your whole life.  I don't care if you work on an oil rig pulling 16 hour shifts.  That might just about equal how long you'll work as a teacher, but it will not equal the time and thought and effort going into those kids.  Your first year, your every thought, every waking moment, even your dreams will focus on the kids.  You'll drive yourself crazy just trying not to think about them.  Your at home time will be spent relaxing enough so that you can grade and plan for the next day or week or month.  So don’t join the Teacher Corps if you’re looking for an easy 2 years.

Required: Why should you join the Mississippi Teacher Corps?

That's a difficult question for me to answer.  As someone who has struggled a great deal with her own identity as a teacher and as an adult.  

There were many difficult things for me in the beginning, some that are still difficult for me, but I suppose I'll talk about those in my "Why should you not join the Mississippi Teacher Corps?" blog.

I think more than any other big reason, like changing education in Mississippi, obviously MTC's final goal, or changing the racial prejudices of a state with a history of racism, it's the little reasons.  Everyone talks about seeing that light on a kid's face when they start to understand something, the way they almost laugh when they find they can tell you how it works.  I agree.  That's amazing.  I live for those moments.  I see them more and more as my teaching improves. Those are definitely reasons to join.

Another is growth as a human being.  When I graduated from college, I felt very grown up.  I felt I'd seen a great deal and all the rest would be a piece of cake.  I was wrong.  Teaching shoves you into responsibility very young, and you realize how unprepared you are, but it shapes you very quickly into an adult.  It's an experience unlike any other, and a reason to join MTC.

There are many reasons I joined the Mississippi Teacher Corps.  But there are two reasons I've stayed in the Mississippi Teacher Corps.  The first, is named "Anghalek".  I call her Maya, the name she chose in my Spanish 2 class.  In the second semester of my first year, I started tutoring students for the ACT English and Reading sections.  She was the only student to come.  She came every week, or almost.  She worked hard, something I almost never saw a student do.  I had almost given up hope that I could reach those kids.  I couldn't stand myself anymore, couldn't stand teaching, felt like a total failure.  But Maya made me realize I could.  When we started tutoring, she scored a 13 on her Reading Section, and 3 months later, she scored a 22.  The day that she came in and told me was the day I resolved to go on and continue with teaching.  That was the day I knew I had made a difference.  One reason you should join the Mississippi Teacher Corps is for the small changes you make that impact a life.

The second reason is, I like my kids.  I genuinely like talking to them, like hearing their ideas, their thoughts on what life is.  I like their jokes and the way so many things are new to them.  I genuinely enjoy being with them.  My second reason for staying in the Mississippi Teacher Corps, is for the tremendous impact your students have on you.

Dr. Foster Blog 3

This is late, I lost track of the days.

Assessment in my classroom, right now, consists of 2 paper tests/quizzes per chapter that we cover.  In addition to that, we have any projects or presentations that they are given that receive a test grade.  I am, right now, giving them test grades for teaching verbs throughout the 9 weeks. 

I like the paper tests, in a way.  Students must take tests like the SAT, SATPs, ACT, etc. their whole life.  I may not like the fact that the tests don't measure students in a real life way, but I do understand that testing skills are also necessary. 

I want to, this summer and in the year to come, give many more project-based tests.  I am thinking of a way to help my students find Spanish cultural articles in their community.  This will be a lot easier if I go to Gulfport.  I will have students research one aspect of the Hispanic culture, like music, family, food, etc, and then try to find embodiments of these central cultural themes in their own community, displaying the intertwining of the Hispano-U.S. culture.

This summer, I might look into a project of the students researching language usage in their favorite song lyrics and researching imagery and other elements of writing as used in their songs.

I liked the idea in the video about the economics plan that the students had to come up with as a group.

Kids´ Thoughts

"Profe's class is a lot of work. She always wants you to speak Spanish.  We never get done before the bell, and her tests are never multiple choice.  I thought Spanish would be easy."

"If there was a state test on Spanish, I would flunk."

"I went to a Mexican restaurant the other day and I said "hola, como estas" and the guy understood me!  I couldn't say anything else because I slept all last semester, but I remembered that."

I picked out 3 of my favorite quotes from their free write.  There were lots of great ones. 

I hear that state test on a lot.  Once one of them said it, all of them picked it up.  But I love little personal victories the kids have in Spanish like Cesár (not his real name) and the Mexican restaurant.

Dopplegangers?

This new character on Scrubs really reminds me of Scotty.

Scrubs Ed Is A Trendsetter

Why someone should join the Mississippi Teacher Corps

So here's the skinny.  The first semester of teaching, sucks.  It's hard to come in, especially with no curriculum, and just teach.  The kids are looking to take any advantage they can.  As a new teacher, you're likely to flounder, and you're guaranteed to screw up at least once.

However, all that stuff is worth it when you actually get yourself figured out.  When you get your classes, curriculum, discipline, and self personally and professionally, life gets so much easier, and you begin to breathe more easily.  Teaching begins to come second nature, and you're left with a sense of accomplishment like no other.  When you know that you are responsible for these kids and you are actually teaching them, you feel so accomplished.

Also, working on a real job matures you to a point I can't fully explain.  People are always surprised when I tell them how young I am, because they think that I am much older.  So your maturity level rises greatly (to say nothing of wrinkles).

Finally, looking at it from a purely selfish way, any kind of job worth having after college wants you to have a master's and two years experience.  This program will give you 2 in 1, and you won't be too old by the time you graduate.  That way, even if you don't decide to go on teaching, your options are a lot more than just teaching.

Classroom Managemernt Blog

My classroom management plan has changed so much since the summer.  I don't call kids out for not having their supplies, I don't punish kids for not raising their hands, I don't give them punishwork basically except when they say shut up or call someone stupid.

I've gotten more creative in my punishments, I just do whatever I feel is the best at the time.  For example, the other day, while playing a game, I had a student call a classmate a puta.  I couldn't believe it, but I didn't want to bother the office (had some problems with support), so I made him stand in the corner while we played the game.  It was very effective for him personally, as long as I made him face the wall.  It was hard for him, but not humiliating.  It was also very affective for the class.  Basically, I do what I need to when the issue comes up.

Palin Power...?

Sarah Palin CBS Interview (Katie Couric)

Don't be a heel

I notice a marked difference in my attitude between the days I wear heels and the days I don't.

My attitude affects my kids' attitudes.

Their attitudes affect how my day goes.

Conclusion:  I need more cute flats.

Okay, who saw that?

Michael Phelps is incredible, and that race was amazing.

Now, it's bedtime.