March '09 Blog #2 Freewrite: The Best Teaching Experience EVER!

I had the most enjoyable teaching experience ever the last three days before spring break. I decided to hold a lab to test out the new microscopes that we received through the Donor’s Choose program. My students were excited, because many had not seen anything underneath the microscope before. Here is a look at this wonderful day in teaching history.

The students were generally excited about class and came in ready to work in groups to complete the task for the day. I was pleasantly surprised to see them working together without the name calling and loud taking. The first day I showed them fixed slides of different items such as liver tissue, bone, kidney, and stomach cells. They could not believe how that tiny dot on the slide was what they were looking at underneath the microscope. I then let the students decide what else they would like to see underneath the microscope. They picked a bed bug. They asked intelligent questions about their work and even my “bad” or “behaviorally challenged” students were engaged in the lesson. I was so excited that my students had the opportunity to engage in such a learning process.

Even the set-up of the lab went smoothly. I have to share my room with another teacher during my planning period so the room has to be arranged in a certain way in order for the teacher to do teach is class. That means that I had to remove all of the desks in the room to create a make-shift microscope lab for my students. They came in and helped me move the tables set up the equipment for the lab. My two lower achieving students were very proud to show me that they remembered how to hold and transport a microscope (things we learned at the beginning of school.) One girl even corrected her friend when she saw that the microscope was not pushed back from the edge of the table. (Yeah!)

My classes went very smoothly that whole day. The Friday before Spring Break helped to round off the best teaching experience, ever! We did a new microscope lab that day. The students had to prepare their own wet mount and answer questions regarding their lab. At lunch I went to talk to the school nurse to see if she noticed any high changes in my blood pressure. After she checked by blood pressure, she showed me pieces of a deer’s heart, trachea, and kidneys. She said that her brother-in-law went deer hunting earlier that week. I really wanted to show my students the different types of muscle and tissue within the gallon bag of deer parts. We set up microscopes in her lab to see sections of the deer lab. Unfortunately, this was a last minute idea, so I couldn’t make a miracle happen in just one short lunch period. When I returned to class, I told my students what we were going to see and most were very happy and surprised. We went to the lab and my students got to put on gloves and hold and feel the different textures of the heart and liver. Her Allied Health student presented my students with an overview of the heart and its functions. I just had the best time finding them gloves, observing information underneath a microscope.

At the end of the day I felt good and not worn down like I usually feel. I was so excited to see my students so excited about what we were learning for that day. That day I felt great; I felt like a TEACHER!

March '09 Blog #1 Response to Executive Summary

I feel that the MS Executive Summary was interesting. Some parts of the article seemed to make sense. For example, Jackson is the largest city; therefore, I would expect it to have more people and in that pool of people many people would fare well. Also, Desoto County is one of the fastest growing counties in the state. This fact leads me to believe that there is something positive going on in that area. Knowing the plight of the MS delta region, I am not surprised by the negative news for that area. What I did find shocking was how the report showed that the quality of life today for a typical African American in MS compares of that to an average person from the 1970s. I found that fact that salaries of African Americans were significantly lower than that of their white counterparts. This news was disheartening. I knew that there were discrepancies, but until reading this article, I did not realize their full extent.
Another “no brainer” was that fact that the education system has to be beefed up in order to combat the disparities found in the report. The report basically said to reinvest in the community. I think that reinvesting is one of the best options to help repair MS problems. I agree teenage boys do need some type of outlet instead of gangs and sex. This is a cycle that needs to be stopped as soon as possible. Having a community helps feel the void that these teenagers are missing.
In the education department, family schools would help foster a sense of community and also help parents to be more responsible for their children. The only thing about my suggestions is that they are a little fantasized. Because of the lack of African American males in the homes, mothers have to work long hours to help support their children. These children are raising themselves (and sometimes younger siblings) and do not have the guidance that they need from home to succeed well in school. They try to feel the void of a missing parent by turning to any source of conceived love they can find. During this time, someone will end up pregnant and the cycle will continue. Poverty breeds more poverty. Enough is enough. It is time to do something about it!