This was originally posted on my other website on April 27th, 2015
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to shadow one of our very own Forest Hills Northern students. I got the idea to shadow a student from my husband, who, along with three other teachers, spent a day shadowing students at their high school. One shadowed an ESL student, one shadowed a Freshman because they help design a day for Freshmen at the beginning of the school year. So I asked Mr. Gregory if I could do this at Northern, took a personal day and spent the day in student desks. The focus for me was "What is like to be a student at FHN?" It has been 10 years since I was in high school, so I wanted to know has it changed, is it more stressful, what road blocks to they have throughout their day. The student I shadowed had a schedule that allowed me to see some diverse classrooms. I was in AP classes, I was in a PE class, I was in a classroom with a substitute, I was in a math class....and did I mention I also ate lunch with him? (This was the most uncomfortable part of my day) So what did I take away from my day in the halls of FHN...
1. Five minutes of passing time is a bit too short. I'm responsible, I always have been. So I made it a point to use the restroom during passing time. I was late once and cut it close two other times.
2. I didn't drink anything all day (other than my AM coffee which was gone before I started my day) for fear of having to ask too many times to use the restroom (FYI/TMI: I pee a lot, I just do)
3. I had to ask to use the restroom TWICE....first time I've done that in a very long time. This makes me think how awkward it might be for some kids to ask to use the restroom, especially when, like me, they might have to go more than once in an hour...The change I plan to make next year is to have kids sign out, no asking necessary, one out at a time, they simply need to initial that they've left my room. This will allow me to still monitor the abusers by seeing how often they are signing out of my class. I know some teachers don't make kids ask, but they aren't allowed to leave if the pass isn't there, which makes total sense and worked well.
How just completely wrong is it though that we force students to ASK to do something that EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. has to do multiple times throughout the day? I mean, this is our body doing a natural thing. Or, heaven forbid, when a teacher REFUSES TO LET THEM GO?
4. I'm still terrified of high school PE class. I knew the day before that the student I was shadowing had a PE class and immediately I was nervous. These are the thoughts that went through my head in no particular order: I'm not participating...what if they make me run...what if the kids make fun of me...what clothes should I bring...Yoga sounds fun though...but what if they don't do Yoga...I am NOT changing in the locker room...
In the end I brought clothes but there was a sub so it was free time, I sat on the bench, looked at Facebook and texted some friends (well just one because hello! all my friends are working)
5. I was kinda lonely...sure I knew kids throughout the day and they were excited to see me amongst them but obviously once class started we weren't talking. I missed seeing my friends at school and I missed seeing the familiar faces of my own students. This obviously makes me think about what it must be like for our some of our kids who either a) Don't really have friends b) Don't have a ton of friends or c) Don't have classes with their friends and what can I do as a teacher to make their days a bit brighter and make them feel less lonely
6. Silent reading makes you really, really tired. When I ask my kids to read silently I sometimes think about how tired that could possibly make them, I experienced that yesterday and it was rough to shake off that feeling of just wanting to go to sleep...
7. I can't write things down and listen at the same time, I need to write first, then listen. My kids have given me this feedback before and I've tried really hard to do a better job of giving them time to write something down before I discuss it with them.
8. At one point I felt trapped in my desk. If I wanted to get up and spit my gum out (which is what I wanted to do), I would have had to slide through two desks of students in front of me which would have been quite the distraction...so I stayed put.
9. I was able to escape a class (that had a sub) twice, I don't even think the sub knew I was a student (I mean, why would they?) and I just walked out twice...
10. I started to get tired after lunch, which I expected but not so tired that I felt I would fall asleep...
I also asked students what they wish staff understood about what high school was like for them and boy did they have a lot to say. They were asked not to be specific in terms of a type of class or a teacher. I tried my best to not be defensive on some of what they said. Some of the what they shared with me was incredibly valid and I found myself shaking my head in agreement, some stuff I found myself thinking "Hmm, I do this". Other stuff I could find a rationale for why some things are the way they are. Nevertheless it opened my eyes to what they feel the majority of their day, even when they go home. As you read through the list, I would urge you to not become defensive, if a comeback comes to mind, let it subside and try to imagine what it would be like to live these things on a day to day basis. Here are the things that stuck out to me the most. Just imagine the words "I want staff to understand..." before every sentence
- Most of us don't go straight home, we are involved in after school activities and don't get home until 8 or 9
- Five minutes really is hard to get from class to class and use the bathroom, so when teachers mark us tardy even though we tell them we are in the restroom, it's frustrating, or when they don't let us use the restroom at all in that class
- When we have 4-5 core classes and each teacher assigns an hour of homework, that's 4-5 hours of homework a night...
- Teachers should communicate with each other more to try and avoid this (and back to back to back to back tests)
- If we've just taken a really hard test in one class, we are mentally exhausted by the time we get to our next class and are still expected to do be 100%
- Classes where tests carry the most weight is stressful, homework is usually weighted the least and that's what we spend the most time on (and in some cases we don't even get a grade for it)
- Building a relationship with us really does make a huge difference
- High school is competitive and stressful
- Embarrassing us for not doing our homework is just not cool
- Teachers should be more positive and not focus so much on the negative
- If YOU (the teacher) don't care about our grades....then why should we? (This one I found really interesting because I think of it the opposite way) Basically kids feel like if a teacher doesn't care that you're not doing well, then they feel you don't care about them...
- Some teachers don't understand how outside life, like what goes on at home, impacts our ability to get homework done
- There is too much praise toward academics and not enough praise for other qualities
- Please don't read our scores out loud, even if you just read the 100%, it makes us feel like we're not good enough when ours don't get read aloud
I literally have two pages filled with similar ideas, I just know it won't be productive to put it ALL out there right now, but I truly believe it would be beneficial for every single teacher at FHN to ask their students these same questions and then consider how YOU could change, sometimes even the slightest thing, to make kids just feel better about their days.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to shadow one of our very own Forest Hills Northern students. I got the idea to shadow a student from my husband, who, along with three other teachers, spent a day shadowing students at their high school. One shadowed an ESL student, one shadowed a Freshman because they help design a day for Freshmen at the beginning of the school year. So I asked Mr. Gregory if I could do this at Northern, took a personal day and spent the day in student desks. The focus for me was "What is like to be a student at FHN?" It has been 10 years since I was in high school, so I wanted to know has it changed, is it more stressful, what road blocks to they have throughout their day. The student I shadowed had a schedule that allowed me to see some diverse classrooms. I was in AP classes, I was in a PE class, I was in a classroom with a substitute, I was in a math class....and did I mention I also ate lunch with him? (This was the most uncomfortable part of my day) So what did I take away from my day in the halls of FHN...
1. Five minutes of passing time is a bit too short. I'm responsible, I always have been. So I made it a point to use the restroom during passing time. I was late once and cut it close two other times.
2. I didn't drink anything all day (other than my AM coffee which was gone before I started my day) for fear of having to ask too many times to use the restroom (FYI/TMI: I pee a lot, I just do)
3. I had to ask to use the restroom TWICE....first time I've done that in a very long time. This makes me think how awkward it might be for some kids to ask to use the restroom, especially when, like me, they might have to go more than once in an hour...The change I plan to make next year is to have kids sign out, no asking necessary, one out at a time, they simply need to initial that they've left my room. This will allow me to still monitor the abusers by seeing how often they are signing out of my class. I know some teachers don't make kids ask, but they aren't allowed to leave if the pass isn't there, which makes total sense and worked well.
How just completely wrong is it though that we force students to ASK to do something that EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. has to do multiple times throughout the day? I mean, this is our body doing a natural thing. Or, heaven forbid, when a teacher REFUSES TO LET THEM GO?
4. I'm still terrified of high school PE class. I knew the day before that the student I was shadowing had a PE class and immediately I was nervous. These are the thoughts that went through my head in no particular order: I'm not participating...what if they make me run...what if the kids make fun of me...what clothes should I bring...Yoga sounds fun though...but what if they don't do Yoga...I am NOT changing in the locker room...
In the end I brought clothes but there was a sub so it was free time, I sat on the bench, looked at Facebook and texted some friends (well just one because hello! all my friends are working)
5. I was kinda lonely...sure I knew kids throughout the day and they were excited to see me amongst them but obviously once class started we weren't talking. I missed seeing my friends at school and I missed seeing the familiar faces of my own students. This obviously makes me think about what it must be like for our some of our kids who either a) Don't really have friends b) Don't have a ton of friends or c) Don't have classes with their friends and what can I do as a teacher to make their days a bit brighter and make them feel less lonely
6. Silent reading makes you really, really tired. When I ask my kids to read silently I sometimes think about how tired that could possibly make them, I experienced that yesterday and it was rough to shake off that feeling of just wanting to go to sleep...
7. I can't write things down and listen at the same time, I need to write first, then listen. My kids have given me this feedback before and I've tried really hard to do a better job of giving them time to write something down before I discuss it with them.
8. At one point I felt trapped in my desk. If I wanted to get up and spit my gum out (which is what I wanted to do), I would have had to slide through two desks of students in front of me which would have been quite the distraction...so I stayed put.
9. I was able to escape a class (that had a sub) twice, I don't even think the sub knew I was a student (I mean, why would they?) and I just walked out twice...
10. I started to get tired after lunch, which I expected but not so tired that I felt I would fall asleep...
I also asked students what they wish staff understood about what high school was like for them and boy did they have a lot to say. They were asked not to be specific in terms of a type of class or a teacher. I tried my best to not be defensive on some of what they said. Some of the what they shared with me was incredibly valid and I found myself shaking my head in agreement, some stuff I found myself thinking "Hmm, I do this". Other stuff I could find a rationale for why some things are the way they are. Nevertheless it opened my eyes to what they feel the majority of their day, even when they go home. As you read through the list, I would urge you to not become defensive, if a comeback comes to mind, let it subside and try to imagine what it would be like to live these things on a day to day basis. Here are the things that stuck out to me the most. Just imagine the words "I want staff to understand..." before every sentence
- Most of us don't go straight home, we are involved in after school activities and don't get home until 8 or 9
- Five minutes really is hard to get from class to class and use the bathroom, so when teachers mark us tardy even though we tell them we are in the restroom, it's frustrating, or when they don't let us use the restroom at all in that class
- When we have 4-5 core classes and each teacher assigns an hour of homework, that's 4-5 hours of homework a night...
- Teachers should communicate with each other more to try and avoid this (and back to back to back to back tests)
- If we've just taken a really hard test in one class, we are mentally exhausted by the time we get to our next class and are still expected to do be 100%
- Classes where tests carry the most weight is stressful, homework is usually weighted the least and that's what we spend the most time on (and in some cases we don't even get a grade for it)
- Building a relationship with us really does make a huge difference
- High school is competitive and stressful
- Embarrassing us for not doing our homework is just not cool
- Teachers should be more positive and not focus so much on the negative
- If YOU (the teacher) don't care about our grades....then why should we? (This one I found really interesting because I think of it the opposite way) Basically kids feel like if a teacher doesn't care that you're not doing well, then they feel you don't care about them...
- Some teachers don't understand how outside life, like what goes on at home, impacts our ability to get homework done
- There is too much praise toward academics and not enough praise for other qualities
- Please don't read our scores out loud, even if you just read the 100%, it makes us feel like we're not good enough when ours don't get read aloud
I literally have two pages filled with similar ideas, I just know it won't be productive to put it ALL out there right now, but I truly believe it would be beneficial for every single teacher at FHN to ask their students these same questions and then consider how YOU could change, sometimes even the slightest thing, to make kids just feel better about their days.