Student Teaching - Week #9

by Kristin Trease - Kelvyn Park High School

Life in the City

This has been the weekend of performances. It’s been wonderful.

Chicago Symphonic Orchestra

Thursday: Chicago Symphonic Orchestra. I’m not the biggest fan of classical music, but I can appreciate its value and beauty.

Friday: Blue Man Group. If you volunteer to be ushers for the show, they let you watch for free. It was quite the experience. It is a theatrical concert, with lots of paint, music made on PVC pipes, and silent sketches. Very fun, but probably not anything I’ll ever need to see again.

Blue Man Group

Saturday: “Kinky Boots.” This is the new musical written by Cindy Lauper and Harvey Fierstein, based on the true story of a man in England who inherited his father’s failing shoe company. By a stroke of luck, he ran into a drag queen who turned out to be the savior of his company: he would make boots for drag queens. It was a very fun, very energetic show that we really enjoyed. And we only paid $25 for $60 seats.

I love weekends full of art. Granted, it was also full of homework, but we’ll try and forget about that.

Life in the Classroom

I planned my first failure of a lesson. Monday was pretty rough. There’s nothing quite like being reminded five different times that the lesson you planned was completely awful. The students knew it, I knew it. It was best to just move on and try to forget it.

Tomorrow will hopefully be the last schedule change for our freshmen. The school is hopefully getting all of that mess straightened out. I feel so bad for the students, but they are troopers.

I also got to join the after school drama club’s first meeting on Wednesday. It was so fun, playing theatre games and meeting some upper classmen. Sometimes I forget there are students other than the ones I see every day. The theatre director also talked to me about helping them out with their production of “Bye Bye Birdie” that is having auditions pretty soon. It waits to be seen how big of a role I can take and whether I’ll be able to see it all the way through, considering I have no idea where I’ll be in February. Hopefully in Chicago, but it’s hard telling at this point.

Student Teaching - Week #8

by Kristin Trease - Kelvyn Park High School 

Life in the City

I am becoming a habitual coffee drinker. Understand something: until 6 months ago, I rarely drank anything with coffee in it, let alone just coffee. This is the kind of thing 9^th graders drive you to. On Tuesday, after an awful Monday, I had some coffee before school, finishing it during first and second period. I was hyped up not only on coffee, but also because I really liked the activity I was leading. Yasmine, a girl with a tough exterior and an even tougher boxing stance, asked me what was wrong with me. Caffeine. She told me I shouldn’t do that again. Thursday night I bought a French Press coffee maker. Sorry, Yasmine, get used to crazy, caffeinated Ms. Trease.

The Book Thief at the Steppenwolf Theatre

Saturday, I experienced my first stand-by status for a theatre ticket. Steppenwolf Theatre, perhaps the top theatre in the city, is in the middle of running The Book Thief, adapting it from the young adult novel of the same title by Markus Zusak. I read the book last year in my Adolescent Literature class and absolutely fell in love with it.  Narrated by Death, the story recounts Liesel Miminger’s experience in World War II, living as a German girl, but figuring out her place in the war isn’t among the Nazi’s, but rather in the basement with the fugitive Jewish man her foster parents are harboring. It is a beautiful and heartbreaking book, and I highly recommend it. Here, have a taste of Death:

“I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn’t already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race – that rarely do I simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant. . .I am haunted by humans.”

Death as Narrator

I’m so glad I took a shot and showed up at the theatre to see if I could get a seat to the sold out show. It was Steppenwolf’s equivalent of a children’s show, so they had been performing in front of audiences of students for the last few weeks. This was the first public performance. Well worth twenty bucks, but that’s usually how I feel about theatre shows. A good way to spend a Saturday afternoon: I fed my inner introvert and artist. Not that I always want to go to shows on my own, but yesterday it was alright. 

Life in the Classroom

This week I start teaching all five periods of Content Area Literacy full time. I’ve been teaching quite a bit of all the classes, but this week I am officially full time. It’s so ridiculous that we’re in our eighth week. For the next four weeks, I’ll probably be busier than I’ve ever been. Luckily, my cooperating teacher is really great and supportive. She won’t let me drown. 

I really love it when things outside the classroom line up so beautifully with things inside the classroom. Yesterday at the show, there was a big wall painted with chalkboard paint that asked “Who is your upstander?” (For those readers who can’t figure it out from context clues, an upstander is one who doesn’t just stand by and watch something happening, but takes a stand for what’s right and does something about it.) A couple weeks ago, the freshmen learned all about bystanders, upstanders, victims, and perpetrators. We had some really good conversations about the roles we typically take, and why some are better than others. It was a conversation they had the day after the chaos that was the first substitute day, when the classes went crazy. I got some really great apology letters that day. It was cool having upstanders and bystanders come back into my focus yesterday. I really hope these kinds of connections happen for the students, too. 

I’m starting to feel like a real teacher. I can tell when the students are annoyed with me, but I don’t care. It’s obvious when they think I’m acting a fool, but I don’t care. I am starting to get student stories, slowly leaking out on their own. I’m starting to recognize handwriting. I feel so proud when I hear a voice usually quiet, and I feel a twinge of annoyance when I continue to hear the same voice over and over again. Now if only I could figure out how to keep classroom management under control, I’d be a real life teacher. I’ll get there.

Student Teaching - Week #7

by Kristin Trease - Kelvyn Park High School

Life in the City

I’m figuring out that the life of a student teacher is no walk in the park. Sure, I could always go walk in the park, but I hardly think that would solve the dilemmas I am faced with. Dilemmas like when I’ll get to sleep, how I’ll have a life outside of school and homework, how to decide between attending extracurricular activities as the high school and having time to do my own thing. My cooperating teacher tells me I’m lucky I’m single, I’m the only one I have to figure into my life plans. I suppose she’s right.

So I prioritize; I decide what can wait, and I make time for experiences. Like Thursday when I skipped going to the homecoming football game to go see a play, perhaps the best play I’ve seen in years. The Arts Event this week was “33 Variations” by Moises Kaufman. Centered around Beethoven and his 33 variations of Diabelli’s waltz, the play follows not only Beethoven’s journey to write the music, but also a woman 200 years later trying to figure out why he was so obsessed with such a small piece of music. It was a moving, heartbreaking play delving into issues like family bonds, love, and slow decay. Words cannot describe this play adequately, so I’m going to stop trying. Do I feel guilty for missing the football game? Kind of, but I think the kids forgive me.



The life of a student teacher: coffee shops and unit plans



The past couple of nights I have been exiling myself to coffee shops in order to get work done. It works, most of the time. Last night was Starbucks, tonight the Bourgeois Pig (great name for a coffee shop, isn’t it?). It’s such a pain to have to leave my apartment to get anything accomplished, but it tends to be how I do work best. Slightly problematic for the budget, but I’ve never been one to keep a real tight budget.

Life in the Classroom

It’s been homecoming this week. Strangest homecoming I’ve ever been a part of. Never a good thing when the weird student teacher is one of the few dressed up for spirit week. I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t dress up like a fool if given the chance. Then again, I really don’t care what people think about me, so that probably is a huge contributing factor.

Homecoming Panther guarding our classroom door

Amongst all the chaos that is Chicago Public Schools this year, I find myself becoming more and more aware that the students are becoming my constant. I never know what is going on in the school or the district, but I always know that there will be a classroom full of freshmen that more times than not, are not so willing to learn. It is opposite of how I expected it to be; usually we think of the classroom being the constant factor in the student’s lives, not the other way around. It’s reassuring to see most of the same 140 faces every day.

And every day as I collect papers or answer the same question for the 10^th time, I am reminded that this is not a job someone does on a whim. It takes true passion to be a teacher. Notice I didn’t say ‘to teach,’ I said ‘to be a teacher.’ Because being a teacher encompasses so much more than lesson plans and standing in front of a classroom. It means that I carry those faces and stories home with me every night, sometimes full of heartbreak, sometimes full of joy. It means that the “ah-ha”moment I witnessed means so much more than the kid trash talking me behind my back. It means the twelve hours I spent creating the unit plan overview is all worth it when I see how the students figure out how to use their voice. This is not a passion everyone has, and I’m just relieved that as of yet, I seem to have it.

Student Teaching - Week #6

by Kristin Trease - Kelvyn Park High School

Life in the City

I’m an artsy person. If you want to know about the latest Bears game, read a different blog. You won’t find any posts about that from me. Maybe I’m missing out on a huge part of Chicago culture, but I’m really, really okay with my play going, museum visiting, concert attending culture.

Last Wednesday night I went to see the Tony Award-winning play, “Spring Awakening” at DePaul University. Here is some helpful advice: make sure that when you come out of a subway stop, you are actually walking south on State (or whatever direction and street you need), because if you aren’t you may just keep walking, looking for Balbo, and you will never find it. Another helpful tip, ask for directions. Most people are willing to help. And then, walk really fast. If you’re lucky, you’ll make it to the theatre two minutes before the play starts, early enough to catch your breath and have your friend laugh at you a little bit.

Spring Awakening

Also a helpful tip when going to see shows, do a quick Wikipedia search of the show you’re going to see. It’s helpful to have some kind of idea what you’re walking into. “Spring Awakening” was a good show, but I was not expecting to see so much…skin. Let me share with you the moral of the play: give your daughter the talk, because if you don’t, she’ll have sex, not knowing that’s how one gets pregnant. Then you’ll be forced to ship off the boyfriend to a reformatory and get her an under the table abortion, during which she dies.  Before you’ll know it, you’ll be daughterless, all because you kept insisting the stork was responsible for babies. Oh, also Germany in the 1860’s was no walk in the park.

Life in the Classroom

I’m beginning to realize I have really, really high expectations. Not that high expectations are bad for students – it’s really important for them to know you are holding them up to high standards. However, when planning a lesson on free verse poetry, I expected all students to write their poems excitedly for fifteen minutes, then be dying to share them with the class. My expectations are way out of hand.

Not that my poetry lesson was a failure; on the contrary, it went really, really well. I was amazed at the kind of poems I read afterwards. I was also really irritated when I searched some fishy sounding ones and found songs on YouTube. Teenagers…

What it made me realize most was this: often times students don’t get the chance to say what they need to say. I really wish I could have shared with you some of the poems that were written. For a group of fifteen year olds, there is a lot of heart break and strength sitting in those desks every day. And I am so, so thankful to hear the stories. I am also aware of how ill-equipped I am to deal with any of it. My job is merely to listen and help in the ways I can, and getting more help for the things I can’t help with. I’m trying to be okay with that role.

Student Teaching - Week #5

by Kristin Trease - Kelvyn Park High School

Life in the City

The biggest complaint about the neighborhood we live in: lack of coffee shops that aren’t Starbucks. I had to travel on the bus for fifteen minutes to find a locally owned coffee shop this afternoon. Slightly annoying, but I can deal with it. Our neighborhood isn’t all bad; it is really central, so hopping on either a train or bus to get around the city is really easy. I also found out yesterday that we live three blocks from the original Playboy Mansion, not that it’s a huge selling factor for me personally, but still an interesting tid-bit.

The "Bean" at Millennium Park

What I love most about this city is the diversity that surrounds us. We live in the prominent, wealthy area of town. I work in a predominately Hispanic neighborhood. When I visit my friends in the Rogers Park neighborhood, I find myself in the most diverse community in Chicago. Yesterday we took a trip to Boy’s Town, the gay community. Friday night we were in the Loop going to an Opera being performed in a church. A few weekends ago we went to a giant craft fair in Wicker Park, the artsy, hipster part of town. Couple of stops south and you’re in Chinatown. Four stops on the Red line train and you’re in the sports hub of Chicago. Forty-five minutes south and you’re at the Museum of Science and Industry. Walk from our apartment to the Chicago Semester offices and you’ve passed some of Chicago’s best shopping. Within a ten or fifteen minute ride on the CTA, we can find ourselves in a completely different world. You can go on an adventure everyday if you let yourself.

Life in the Classroom

Almost every day I leave school with one thought: What in the world am I doing here?

Here I am, a young, white, country girl trying to survive in this huge, Hispanic, city school, pretending like I’m making a difference. And there is no real way at this point to know if I am actually doing anything for these kids that shuffle through our classes. My cooperating teacher tells me to stop worrying about it, that these things aren’t measurable and it may be years before I know the effect I have on these kids. I just can’t get over the need for just a little bit of instant gratification.

So every day on the bus, I try and think about the little wins of that day. Like on Wednesday when Maria told me I looked nice; previously I only got eye rolls and smart aleck remarks from her. Or on Monday when Adholl asked me to come to his soccer game, even though I couldn’t make it (the other team ended up not showing up, so I didn’t miss anything). And last Thursday when a table of four girls told me that I should be the real teacher after I told them I’d only be there until December. Then there was Nicolas who, on Wednesday, actually did all four parts of his assignment; granted, not with great quality, but when he doesn’t usually do anything, it was a big deal for me.

I need to keep in mind that I’m most likely going to learn far more from these kids than they will learn from me. And I need to be open to those lessons and okay with that reality. All those little moments, all the laughs as I stumble over chairs, all the jokes shared between students are silver lining. 

Eighth hour is my favorite class, mostly because they are overly-dramatic and funny. We aren’t supposed to give them hall passes during the last 15 minutes of class, and yet they always wait until then to decide they need to use the bathroom.

Student Teaching - Introduction

Student Teaching - Introduction

by Kristin Trease - Kelvyn Park High School

Life in the City

The architectural boat tour

For those of us lucky enough to find ourselves living in Chicago this semester, we are pulling up on our five week anniversary in the city. If the rest of the CS students are like me, that reality is surprising. It doesn’t seem like that long ago we were being taught how to use the public transit system and being warned about pick-pockets. For all those parents reading this, as far as I know, nothing like that has happened, so don’t worry.

Fall is setting in, the air is much cooler than when we first moved in. We are no longer dying from lack of air conditioning, but that does not mean we were ready for the apartment building to turn on the heating units yet (luckily, they turned them off again).

Life in the Classroom

I get to spend student teaching at Kelvyn Park High School. Kelvyn Park is located in the Hermosa neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago in an area predominately populated with Hispanic people. The culture of the school is rich in Hispanic heritage, with murals depicting vibrant scenes gracing the walls of the old building.

Mural outside the school

My placement is in a freshmen Content Area Literacy classroom, where we help the students learn the reading skills that they need for all the classes they will have throughout high school and college. It has been an interesting ride so far. Walking into Kelvyn the first day, I had no idea where I’d be placed, but it has worked out to be a great fit for me. I didn’t expect to love hanging out with freshmen so much, so I have been pleasantly surprised at how easily I’ve found my place there.

With Chicago Semester friends on the beach

Granted, this has been a bizarre school year. The strike that happened the first week and a half of school threw us all for a giant loop, one that we haven’t quite recovered from. On the calendar, we are technically coming up on a month of school, but we’ve actually only been in the classroom for twelve days, as of Friday night. It has been a struggle to find our footing and rhythm so far this year, but it is getting so much easier to find the beat every day. I’m just grateful for the chance to attempt to join in the dance.