I
went to the University of the Witswaterand's theatre production of The Hypochondriac (or The Imaginary Invalid) by Moliere on
Thursday. It was a hilarious, well-performed rendition; I enjoyed how they
adapted the play, written in 1683 (French), to modern day South Africa as well.
On Friday night, one of the Fulbrighters hosted a cocktail party for her
birthday. Rob and Ben (from Pretoria) came down and we grabbed dinner before
heading to the party. The party had a nice mixture of Americans, South
Africans, and Dutch. On Saturday I headed to Benoni to see Gerhard and family
and go to a East Rand Youth Orchestra fundraiser (Maike and Tasmin, Gerhard and
Marlize's daughters play in the orchestra). It was a beautiful event at a
country club; the orchestra had a performance, then there was wine tasting/snacks
and mingling. The orchestra was wonderful - to be so talented at such a young
age! It was great to see the family, support the girls, and talk about our
camping trip next weekend (Pilansberg).
Marshmallows
I
appreciate teaching the future educators at Wits because it allows for me to
reflect on my own experiences in Chicago, with my Room 306
"Buckeyes." Last year at this time, as I was nearing the end of my
Teach for America commitment, I was focused on finishing up the school year
strongly and then moving on from Chicago. The "hectic-ness" of the
end of the year, moving from Chicago, and leaving friends, did not present many
opportunities for self reflection (or maybe I wasn't in the right frame of
mind). When I teach my New Literacies for
Teachers course, I try to present my students with strategies, advice, and
teacher stories in order to give the coursework greater meaning. This, in turn,
has allowed me to reflect on my own teaching practices, my own failures, as
well as successes.
I
feel like my students were all taught in a similar style - very "hands
off" and more traditional (e.g. copy notes on the board while the teacher
sits at his/her desk, not being encouraged to think for oneself, et cetera). It
has been a welcoming shock to hear my students' reactions to my teacher stories
and/or advice. For instance, I shared with my student's one piece of advice
I'll never forget, "get to know your students." Seeing my struggle
during my first year of teaching, my assistant principal pulled me aside. He
said: "Fry, you're thinking too much. The best way to get your students'
respect and trust is to get to know them. Go throw the football with them, eat
lunch with them… get to know their story." Now, this seems intuitive, but
when confronted with the stresses of teaching, teachers often lose sight of the
human-side of teaching.
One
of my focuses this week was investment in the classroom. I encouraged my
students to not only continually build a report with their students, but also
invest them in their "plan" for academic success. A method I used
with my Room 306 "Buckeyes" was the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment.
I introduced my students to the experiment the first week of school, giving
each student (in Chicago) a marshmallow. I told them that they could eat the
marshmallow now or wait ten minutes, not eat their marshmallow and earn a
second marshmallow. I watched some of my sixth graders struggle to control
their over-excited mouths, with many students giving in (who could refuse a
puffed cylinder made of high-fructose corn syrup?!). This experiment was the
same model as a Stanford researcher in the 1960s. The researcher followed up
with the same students nearly twenty years later and the results speak for
themselves: those students who waited for the second marshmallow were
overwhelmingly more successful (in terms of finances and education). Now, this
is not to say that this is a foolproof experiment, but with sixth graders it's
simple enough that they can grasp the concept. The point is, students who can
exhibit self-control are more successful. I told them that there will be
"things" throughout the year that they don't necessarily want to do
(e.g. homework or study). If they persevere, they will be rewarded (higher
grades, better high school, college admittance, graduation, good job). I used
this as an investment tool throughout the year, with "Don't Eat the
Marshmallow" signs around my classroom and the school (with the other
classes having no idea what I was talking about). I modeled for my students at
Wits the same investment strategy, which they really enjoyed (not just because
I gave them marshmallows). At the end of the day, I think my university
students gain more from these types of experiences.  |
| Poster for Room 306 Buckeyes |
 |
| The Hypochondriac |
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| The East Rand Youth Orchestra Fundraiser |
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