Being dislocated from my room for a brief break during testing, I wandered into the teachers lounge. I have not spent much time in this room prior to this occurrence and not surprisingly met some teachers I’d never previously spoken to. One such teacher informed me that at the beginning of the year, all she heard from her students was how mean and scary I was. ME! She thought, “who is this Ms. Ochoa? She must be some grumpy old, warty teacher…” and was surprised when she actually met me. Apparently, my students thought my class was incredibly difficult at the beginning of the year and therefore labeled me as ‘mean.’
I am quite pleased with this news. Not only does it mean that I improved something that I miserably failed at last year (remember my hostile 5th period?) but it also means that I am actually changing the lives of my students. If my class is “hard” in their frame of reference, then it is altering the course of their lives. My class is nothing compared to the classes I took in high school–but if I can move them a little closer to the difficulty that life and employers will demand of them, then I know that my work here has meaning.
Other highlights from this week include Anthony getting the highest possible rubric score on his essay (after he struggled to write a paragraph at the beginning of the year) and my students reporting that the TAKS (high stakes state exam) was EASY and they felt prepared for it. I wish I could say my work here is done, but unfortunately this brings me to another critical moment. Now the challenge will be investing students in classwork when they’ve already achieved MOST of our yearlong goals. I have already taken a few steps to invest them by giving them a survey asking what reward they’d like if they actually reach their TAKS goals and asking what they’re interested in studying for the remainder of the year. The number one choice of study is a media literacy unit, which I am in the midst of creating and extremely excited about. I think that not only will the unit be really engaging, but it actually has a very high level of relevance to my students’ lives. Similarly, learning the process of inquiry and analysis will enable them to apply their skills to all kinds of “texts” including literature. Analysis is a high level on Bloom’s taxonomy and I think that this unit will really push them and develop their thinking skills. We also be able to explore (I hope) some really important issues relevant to my students, such as race, class, gender, body image, and materialism.
With four days left in the classroom before Spring Break, I am feeling good. :)

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