What's going on at the Tampa Housing Authority Community Center?

THA Students proudly displaying their Keith Haring drawings :)

So, as I previously mentioned, I also do a second "job" at the Tampa Housing Authority (THA) community center, Oaks at Riverview. Not too far from the Community Stepping Stones location. The center is for the children and youth of the community there, a community of very underprivileged families. In fact, in order to live there, you have to be of extreme low income. THA not only caters to these families, but they also place their communities in areas where slums exist... so, this kind of gives you an idea of the type of people in these locations. They are strict though... they have rules and they also do not allow anyone who is a criminal or felon to live there. Good. I guess they should be, considering these are really nice homes that are being given to these people.

I don't think many of my co-workers at CSS understand the amount of hard work and dedication it takes to work at THA and to be the ONLY art teacher there. Only my AmeriCorp leader (who used to work there as the art teacher) truly understands the hard work and dedication the position there requires. She has made sure to let me know on numerous occasions how well she knows I am doing, which I truly appreciate because it has helped to keep going. The "coaches" at the center have also told me on various occasions that they appreciate my work too, which was also really uplifting to hear. But anyway, this is all besides the point.

Teaching there is difficult. I don't mean that in a bad way though. One of the main reasons I have such a hard time teaching there is because I am a first time teacher. Actually, teaching there is the first time I have taught class sizes that large before. I teach a range between K-12 (I have written before on a previous post about the differences each have so i won't go there). They give me about 2-4 groups a day, depending on how many they get, and about 20-22 in each class. Phew! That's a lot for one person to handle! And as a beginner who has never taught a class this large or has never had any true formal training to prepare me for this.... it was quite overwhelming. It still is. :/ Despite that, the experience is more valuable than gold... well, if you're going to be a teacher it is. Although I am the teacher, the children there have taught me a lot as well.

All in all, I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience at this location. I learned more than I could have ever imagined. It was as if a wonderful opportunity was just thrown onto my lap without me even foreseeing it. I learned a lot about the way community centers function and the way they handle and organize kids. I learned a lot about classroom management and lesson preparedness. And I learned about what works and what doesn't. Just SO much. It's not like I haven't learned anything at CSS, I have. It's just that I never got the classroom experience that THA has given me. CSS is more like a mentorship program, and I think I like it that way, because I get experience in both. I just hope more than anything that the staff at both locations have seen my hard work and has appreciated it as much as I appreciated being there :)

Lesson Planning

One of the most horribly overlooked things about being a teacher is the time that it takes to create lessons and plan them. Of course, this is assuming that the teacher is not forced to go by an already created lesson. I hear that many teachers are to go by a set curriculum but write their own lessons within the curriculum. I guess that makes their job a little easier. Regardless, creating and implementing a lesson plan, whether you created it or it is one you found and will be using for the first time, is not an easy 1-2-3 task. In this post, I wish to discuss a few of the aspects of lesson planning and what makes it so difficult, so that those who read this may come to a better understanding of it and may even appreciate the time and effort a teacher puts into them.

I am honestly still a beginner at writing lessons. I have not even been writing them for a year (which I hope does not make me seem less credible in writing ABOUT them). In spite of this, I have still written and implemented enough lessons to say I know what makes them hard. The only thing I am bad at when it comes to writing lessons is the proper day-to-day organization and planning ahead part of it. A messy curriculum means a messy lesson and a messy class (as far learning goes).

Some aspects of lesson planning that one must consider is the age group the lesson is being written for. If you are teaching a kindergarten class, then the lesson must be radically different from one of a 5th grade class. Often, the younger the group, the more simple the lesson needs to be. This seems like a no duh kind of thing, but it actually takes some time to figure out what is appropriate for what age group. It's a learning process and you WILL make some mistakes and you WILL have to often go back to the lesson and simplify certain points. Another aspect is time, and it is one I mistakenly ignore all too often. Each part of the lesson needs to be timed accordingly to the amount of class time you have. A lesson for a 45 min. class will be slightly different from one for 1 hr and a half class. Of course, the more time you have, the better, but often, it's not the teachers choice. Next is the objective. Without one, your lesson literally has no purpose other than to spend time. You need to think: what will this lesson teach? What will it prepare the students for? Is it a follow up lesson? And so forth. Having an objective is not just about having a purposeful lesson, but it is also about being a TEACHER. You are teaching something, so explain WHY.

Well, to keep this blog post short, I will leave it at that. of course, there are more things one can discuss, but for now these are some of the most important. As I learn more, I may create another post to discuss what new things and experiences I have gained from writing lessons.