CEP 822 Intro Post

Hello! My name is Lisa Myers.  I live in Traverse City, MI and have taught second grade for the last four years at Central Grade Elementary School.  A little over a year ago my husband-to-be and I eloped in Fiji.  We just built a house, so when I’m not teaching or working on class assignments I am busy with house projects.  In my free time I love to enjoy the beauty of Northern Michigan summers by biking, SUPing, or lounging in my hammock with a good book.  I also love to travel!  I am very excited to be completing the MATC program with this course.

In the first clip, The First Day, I was reminded of the first day of school and the importance of setting the standard from the moment students enter the classroom.  A first impression is very important.   Mr. Prezbo was not assertive and trusted that the kids would go to their assigned desk.  Unfortunately this did not happen.  Chaos ensued as he passed out bus passes to the wrong students and got even worse as the students exited the classroom without listening. I think this is a good reminder of the importance of understanding the demographic and culture of students you are teaching.  Mr. Prezbo took for granted a simple thing such as having students go to an assigned desk.  Possibly with some communication with colleagues about these students Mr. Prezbo would have been better prepared on how best to communicate with them so he could have potentially avoided that mess and gave a better first impression.   When Mr. Prezbo told Randy to just take a hall pass it was clear he did not understand these students.  Randy took Mr. Prezbo’s trust for granted and stole a whole stack of hall passes.

In the next clip, Detention and After-School Bonding, it still appeared that Mr. Prezbo did not have a good handle of these students.  He was making exceptions for students in detention and allowed all of them to leave “just this one time” when the students started listing reasons for needing to leave.  It does seem like Mr. Prezbo is starting to try to get to know the students on a personal level when he was talking to a couple of the boys outside of school. I’m wondering if this will work in his favor or if the students will take advantage of him.  Based on what a few students shared about their home life it seems that they face many troubles and really need to think about survival. 

In the fourth clip, Sharing a Happy Moment, it seems that Mr. Prezbo is finally starting to understand the students and learns that the way he will reach these students is by connecting content to their life.  When he discovered their interest in poker and gambling he quickly thought about how he could relate gambling to what he needed to teach the kids.  The kids were so engaged and wanted to learn about the odds on dice.  This really shows the importance of connecting content and curriculum to students interested, especially with difficult students to earn respect.   Like Mr. Prezbo said, you need to “trick them into thinking they aren’t learning and they do.”