Educators That Rock!: Mr. B
Last week, findingEducation interviewed our second anonymous teacher blogger, Mr. B, also known as Bronxteach. Mr. B writes the blog, “Is Our Children Learning?” He also teaches third grade at an unnamed school in the Bronx. Prior to that, Mr. B taught fourth grade for two years at another public school in New York.
When asked why he’s such a tough critic of his own teaching abilities, Mr. B told findingEducation, “I’m doing this because I want the kids to be able to go to college … I just feel like the stakes are really high. I honestly think it’s life or death. That’s how important a good education is for these kids.”
fE: What made you decide to become a teacher?
Mr. B: Towards the end of my senior year of college, my roommate at the time had already been admitted to NYC Teaching Fellows. So he told me about it and I applied. It made sense to me because I’d already done a lot of work volunteering, doing after school tutoring, mentoring and things like that. I thought I would go in and make a difference, so to speak, and then move on to whatever else I found.
fE: Your first year of teaching was a difficult year. Do you think that if you went back and taught the same students that you taught then, you would have a better handle on them now?
Mr. B: Oh definitely! Throughout the year other people would say to me, “Oh, you have just such a tough, such a horrible group.” But I held myself responsible. You set the tone for the environment and the student will get away with as much as you let them get away with. I think it would be a much safer, calmer environment now, but I can think of at least three students who definitely would have been a challenge in any classroom.
fE: Your blog focuses a lot on education policy. What would you tell policymakers about working in a high-needs school that they might not know or understand?
Mr. B: I would tell them they have to see it to believe it. And that means more than dropping in for a walk-through one day or doing a photo-op with a read-aloud. You can’t really fix a school until you understand the day-to-day aspects that make up teaching in a high-needs school.
My other biggest frustration right now is that teachers aren’t a part of the conversation for reform. The majority of teachers I work with don’t have the time or the energy or the interest to become informed about what’s going on. They kind of let the UFT (United Federation of Teachers) do all the talking. At the same time, we’re not really being engaged in a meaningful way by anyone who’s making the decisions, whether it’s Bloomberg, Duncan or Obama. They listen to Bill Gates. But Bill Gates hasn’t spent a day in the classroom so he shouldn’t really be the one driving the conversation.
fE: What are your thoughts about standardized tests? How do you feel about preparing kids for a test that they may pass but perhaps shouldn’t?
Mr. B: On the one hand, I understand the need for it. You can’t really do your job without knowing whether you’ve accomplished what you’re supposed to accomplish. But it’s turned into a game more than an actual tool for instruction and assessment.
Say I have a student who comes into the third grade reading at a kindergarten level. Do I really want her to pass this test? The way it’s set up now, with the allotment of money and the accountability of No Child Left Behind, it doesn’t matter if my kid has shown a lot of growth if she still gets a one [on a scale of one to three].
In the case of those lower achieving students, they really are just better off getting the intervention that will help them be better readers two or three years down the line. Instead we have to take it year by year. If this student gets a two (out of three) this year, then she’ll pass the third grade, and if she gets a two next year then she’ll pass to the next grade …and by the time she gets to sixth grade, she’s going to be three or four years below grade level, and I think that’s how we do a disservice to them.
fE: On your blog, you recently commented on Susan Engel’s article in which she talked about the importance of playtime, among other things. How do you incorporate play into the classroom?
Mr. B: The students are seated in groups and a lot of the activities are done with a partner or with the whole group; that’s important for ELLs [English Language Learners] to just practice the language. Then it’s just a lot of using games and incorporating the arts. Sometimes it’s just marketing something in a way that sounds more exciting than it is. We might be doing an open-ended math problem but I’ll come up with a funny name for it, so they don’t realize they’re just doing math. We did a lesson on place value and I made up a place value candy store so each candy costs a different amount.
fE: Earlier in the school year, you wrote a very funny post about a rap lesson you created for your students. What can you tell me about that experience?
Mr. B: In the beginning of the year, I was struggling with the language barrier. And I had always heard that students learn well through songs. Then out of nowhere the hook to this song popped into my head, and I just wrote a rap about someone who uses the scientific method to figure out why plants need water. It was pretty cheesy and also fun, so I wrote two other songs. They were based on “Old MacDonald” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” They liked those a lot, too.
That was one of my favorite blog posts to write about because I realized how much things had changed for me as a teacher. It was kind of a risk for me to take, but it was also so rewarding when we actually did it.
fE: Your students seem to like you a lot and to listen to you. Do you think it’s easier as a man to handle management and discipline issues in the classroom?
Mr. B: Because of certain aspects of the students’ culture, they might have more respect for men. Also, a lot of them come from single-parent households, and so the newness to them of having a male teacher sometimes works to my advantage.
But based on my first year of teaching, the most important thing is to have confidence in yourself and know what you’re doing, because regardless of what gender you are, they’re going to tear you apart if you don’t know what you’re doing.
fE: How do you handle parent-teacher conferences?
Mr. B: It’s important to create a partnership with the parents. I welcome them to come and sit down in my classroom anytime they want. And I try and find ways for them to get involved, but they’re not always ready or able to do that.
In terms of reading, I find it’s really helpful to use books to illustrate where their kid is at. If their child is reading at a level J, I’ll show them a J book and then I’ll show them an M book and say, “This is where your kid is supposed to be.” I also grade pretty tough, more than parents are used to. But I explain I’m grading them based on what the state is expecting them to do. They might be doing the best in their class, but if they’re not where they need to be, then it doesn’t matter.
fE: Other teachers are surprised when you tell them it’s only your third year teaching, but you are more self-critical. Why do you think you’re so hard on yourself?
Mr. B: Part of it comes from the fact that I didn’t expect to be teaching for a long time. So I wanted to make an impact in as short a time as possible. I’m doing this because I want these kids to be able to go to college and do whatever they want to do after that… which is kind of a long way down the road for a third grader.
If a student enters my classroom two grades below grade level, it’s not enough for them just to move one year up. I really want them to be as close to their grade level as possible, because I feel like the stakes are really high. I honestly think it’s life or death. That’s how important a good education is for these kids. And that’s why I hold myself to a high standard. It was really disappointing at the end of last year when some of the students didn’t pass their ELA (English Language Arts) tests. As much as it was a really good year, I didn’t quite get the students to where I wanted to get them.
Mr. B’s Favorite Sites:
Google Reader
DonorsChoose.org
Education Week
GothamSchools
The Hype Machine
