There and Back Again: A Teacher Educator’s Journey Back to the Classroom

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September 26, 2017 by twunewteachers

Our blog post this week was written by Dr. Sarah McMahan, Associate Professor of Teacher Education at TWU and one of the founders of the New Teacher Academy. Dr. McMahan is currently on sabbatical so that she could return to the classroom as a middle school teacher. This post focuses on her experiences and reflections in returning to the classroom.

This semester I have been awarded faculty development leave (also known to some as sabbatical) from TWU to further enhance my scholarship of teaching and learning. Since my research is focused on new teacher mentoring and induction, my developmental leave has afforded me the opportunity to return as the “teacher” to my old stompin’ grounds of middle school.  As a professor who “teaches teachers” I feel that it is important to be as current as possible in the day to day operations of K-12 education. Ever since leaving K-12 and moving into higher education, I have remained active in area schools by serving on school committees, volunteering, etc. While I am quite knowledgeable about school due to my past experiences teaching and serving as a volunteer, it is a lot different to teach school all day every day!  This semester I am teaching 7th English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR) while the official teacher is out on maternity leave.

Being back in the classroom all day, every day has been an exciting, yet challenging experience. I love connecting again with hormonal adolescents and molding their lives in a positive way. I love the constant interaction and engagement of students. I love working with a team ( I still work with a team at TWU but we don’t engage in “teaming” like we do in middle school). I love starting the school year and setting up the positive and productive learning environment – routines, routine and routines! I love them and I love teaching my students the daily routine for our classroom. I have found out that some of my old tricks (i.e. pre-pinterest days) still work, such as using a pipe cleaner (or chenille stick as they are now called) to help figidity students concentrate.

The exciting list could go on and on, but I have certainly experienced learning curves along the way. I totally forgot how physically, emotionally and socially demanding teaching middle school students could be. It took me a good 2 weeks to get a groove where I felt like I was not completely drained after each day. Don’t get me wrong – I am still tired everyday, but I now have acclimated myself to the daily grind so I don’t crash at 6pm. The other challenge has been juggling the day to day school activities – PLC meeting, team meeting, 504/IEP meetings, technology integration, grading, tutoring,calling parents, daily schedule changes – oh and teaching, better yet – ensuring that the students are learning (and having fun while doing it). Being a teacher 10 years ago vs. being a teacher today are quite different (in my book). I do not recall having to balance all of this – now it seems like a lot more (PLC, cross-curricular team, content area team, on level team, AP/GT team, etc). Now (vs. ten years ago) we are much more focused on data. Everything is data this, data that! I am a proponent of analyzing data to make instructional decisions/improvements, and I think we (at TWU) do a great job of teaching preservice teachers how to analyze data for instructional improvement.

These past few weeks I have gone to (almost) digital everything! We are a Google campus and each teacher has Chromebook carts in their room. My students use the Chromebooks everyday. I previously used my folder system to pass out papers, return/collect homework, journal write,etc. This year I have gone away from my beloved folder system into using digital folders, Google classroom and Google sites. Google classroom allows me post announcements and other documents we need for the day without using paper. My students are able to view, download and submit work through Google classroom, and I am able to grade, provide feedback via comments, and return student work in Google classroom. I also use a Google Site to post notes, agendas, anchor charts etc so that students can view it anytime and anywhere. If they are absent one day they just go to my site and check out the daily agenda. [On a side note – parents have access to my Google Site so they can also be constantly “in the know” about classroom happenings]. However, I still have a few activities where we hold the “hard copy” in our hands and students have to actually write (yes – this is surprising to some of them because they are used to typing everything). I personally think printing and cursive are still important and students must use know how to use this skill. In addition to using Google everything now, I have experienced using different applications/programs that were not around 10 years ago. For instance Nearpod. Nearpod allows me to create more interactive (and even student self-paced) lessons that give real-time feedback as students complete activities. Oh and it populates easy-to-read charts that serves as efficient means of gathering formative data. GoGuardian is another tool that wasn’t out 10 years ago. GoGuardian allows me to monitor students online activity while using Chromebooks (it is synced with students Google accounts). I am able to see if students are on task with the assignment or if they are visiting other websites (Youtube is a favorite) instead of completing the instructional activity. I can see the sites they go to, how long they are there, take screenshots and even shut down sites on their Chromebook if they are off task. Seriously – Big Brother (or in my case Teacher Lady) is always watching…

I am continuing to expand my knowledge and application of technology in the classroom. These past few weeks have forced me out of my comfort zone in terms of not only learning about technology apps, but actually using tech tools to enhance my teaching and student learning.