Blog Post 1: Reflection

For this first blog post, I plan to reflect on my brief experience with my former clinical teacher, Ms. Munnerlyn. I spent just a little over three hours with her between two of her language arts classes at Coral Gables Senior High and felt I was able to get a good gist of her teaching style for both an Honors English class and a General Education class. The same classroom was utilized for both courses. It was well decorated, displaying posters that fostered individuality, kindness, respect, and hard work. In addition, countless textbooks and narrative books lined the walls and around her desk. One would think the individual teaching in that kind of atmosphere would wish to create a comfortable and learning-conducive environment. Interestingly enough, she was exactly the opposite.
Ms. Munnerlyn was a cold, unapproachable teacher who placed great emphasis on competition and punishment. This is the aspect of her teaching that I noticed above all else and wish to focus on now. The first course I sat in on was her Honors English class.

Before I can even begin, I should mention that she showed up 20 minutes late to class. This placed the idea in my mind, and I'm sure many of her students' minds, that she did not care about or place value on their time and learning. When she did arrive, she spent over 30 minutes attempting to gathers grades for her students' journals that they were to complete on a weekly basis. She simply asked those who had done the assignment to raise their hands, then openly announced to the class that those who did not do it got Cs (only 6 students received credit). This was her favorite choice of punishment, the dreaded C. She openly and publicly humiliated students by assigning Cs and/or detentions. Within the course of three hours, she had given more Cs than any other grade, one detention, and took 10 minutes out of class time to call a students parent, all the while sharing this information with a class of 25 other students. I found that this not only intimidated the kids but made them fear her and fear their place in her course. None of them seemed excited to participate or ask questions. I later found out that this was due to a greater reason than just her punitive measures. The day I observed was the day of class presentations in which each group would utilize a PowerPoint and notes to explain Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. There were hints of effective instruction here when she provided groups with proper directions prior to presenting, yet she did not explain the purpose of the activity nor her specifications when grading them. Here is where I found a large issue with her teaching style (besides the obvious rudeness and lack of concern for her students' feelings): she interrupted the groups' presentations constantly, not with constructive feedback or concerns, but she essentially took over the presentation and spoke for them. She did not allow them to share their ideas or possible new connections or information they had learned. Of course her students were not enthusiastic about participating in class because they were not even given the chance to. During the first group, she cut them off after maybe 30 seconds and just reviewed old information on rhythm then had the group take their seats. This was alarming for many reasons, the first of which is that she had students prepare a presentation and did not give them the opportunity to show their work. I think that in the students' mind, these assignments now felt less necessary and important in their learning process, which is something no teacher aims to do. She also never gave positive feedback during these presentations and otherwise. In fact, the only glimpse of kindness I found in her approach was when she complimented students' on their dress or hair, which I also found somewhat inappropriate.

 For the next course, although a different level and curriculum, Ms. Munnerlyn adopted a similar harsh and ineffective style. The kids in the General Ed course did not have to provide presentations, but rather performed individual grammar activities and a whole-class reading of Julius Ceasar. Again, Ms. Munnerlyn revealed her cold demeanor to her class. She consistently told them the grammar activity was easy and they should be getting it, making the students who weren't feel inferior. Yet, I did see an improvement in her during this hour and a half class. She allowed for more questions and contributions from the students. They even suggested the idea of "role playing" during whole-class reading and Ms. Munnerlyn let them try it out and see. She defined difficult vocabulary and began the exploration of new words based on context clues. Students in the General Ed class seemed more attentive and involved and certainly less fearful. I believe that if she had done more of what she did in this course with the Honors course, the kids would have been less anxious and been able to explore their learning more. It was difficult for me to watch her as she followed through with her teaching approaches. I even felt sorry for the kids that they were stuck with her! I truly think that a teacher who visibly cares for their students and is able to employ effective reward and punishment techniques intertwined with proper teaching methods is one who knows what they are doing. Although Ms. Munnerlyn had been at Coral Gables Senior High for quite some time it seemed as though she did not. She seemed disinterested in her student's success or even mine for that matter. As you know, I will be switching instructors for the remainder of the semester and I hope to write about more positive, helpful observations in the following posts.