On the first day in the middle school – what seems like so long ago, only in the beginning of March – I had students fill out information cards for me. The classroom management professor at Miami champions these: the all-powerful information cards. You give each student an index card and ask them to put down everything from their names, parent’s names, and phone numbers, to their favorite subject in school and hobby outside of school. You also ask for after school commitments and their class schedule. The goals are these: to know a little about your students, to know (if they disclose them) some obligations that would make it hard for students to always keep up with work (like taking care of a grandparent or younger sibling), to be able to contact their guardian for good or bad, and to know what other teachers have each students so that you know with whom to collaborate if you have a problem or something to share. Not a bad idea, all around.
When I asked my students to write these I also asked them a few extra questions that picked their brain about who they are as learners and people. The funny thing about the cards is that they are, at first, completely meaningless for me! In the very beginning I have no idea who goes with each name on the cards, and, even if I can match a face and a name, knowing an index card of information about them before I develop any relationship with them is not very insightful. It’s a hilarious and intensely fascinating exercise to go through now and re-read these cards. They provide deep insight in some cases, comfortable confirmations of personality in others. Either way, they are the stuff of blog posts if I ever saw them, and I quote some of their answers to my questions here.
What is your favorite part of Ms. Dean’s class?
“The discussions”
“Test day”
From one of the bookworms: “learning new math terminology”
“N/A” (ha!)
“The middle of class when the lesson is intense” (quite a lot for me live up to!)
“sleeping” (then again...)
What languages do you speak and/or are learning (other than English)?
“Spanish”
“Spanish and Slang”
“Spanish and Chinese”
“Spanish, and my uncle speaks Italian”
“Spanish 1 (learning) and Ebonics (know)”
If you could live anywhere, where would you live and why?
“Miami, because it’s hot”
“Florida, because it’s hot there.”
“Texas, because it’s hot there and it’s a different world.”
“I would live in Arizona. Because it’s HOT there.”
“Miami, because I like the weather and the wemon.” [sic]
“Wisconsin, because it’s fun there.”
“Wisconsin, because I like mixtures of the weather.”
“California, because you can meet stars.”
“Hollywood, and also Florida, because that’s where I dream of living.”
“Mississippi, because my grandma lives there.”
“Arkansas, because my grandad lives there and my aunt was born there.”
“I would like to stay in Chicago because there are less blizzars [sic] and no earthquakes.”
“Paris, because it is a beautiful place.”
“Egypt. It’s weird.”
“In the subs because it’s nice and quiet there.”
“Suburbs because I can be in a different environment and around new people and learn new things.”
“I would live in Los Angeles. I would want to live here or New York because I love the city and would like to live in the Suburbs for family ressons.” [sic]
“The sky, so I could look over things.”
What do you want to do when you grow up? Why will you choose that course?
(I chose this wording because I didn’t want to use the age-old “what will you be when you grow up” so that I had more chance of getting something other than a formulaic answer. Alas, I had to explain what I meant by “course,” and invariably a student would ask, “You mean, ‘what are we going to be when we grow up?’” At first I resisted, saying that not everyone had to “be” something, and then backpedaled as I thought of students interpreting that as “do nothing!” so I just said, “yes, it’s like ‘what do you want to be when you grow up.’” and a student invariably muttered, or thought, I’m sure, “why didn’t he just say that to start?”) Anyway, their answers:
(all are sic)
“Football player because I was born to play.”
“Football player, because I started playing when I was 5.”
“Football or basketball player because I love sports.”
“Veternarian or animal cop so that I could train and help animals.”
“I want to be a lawyer or therpist because I like helping people out with there problems and I like winning cases.”
“I change what I want to be every now and then but now I want to be a doctor/nurse or teacher or something where I can help people.”
“A doctor or a hair styleist.”
“I want to be a doctor or professional chef because it’s my dream.”
“Entrepeneur.”
“Astronomer.”
“a model/singer/dancer because I like to take pics, sing, and dance.”
“I want to be a teacher because I love to help kids learn.”
“Lawyer - because I love to prove my point and no going to stop arguing until I wen”
“Lawyer because I’m a good lair.”
“When I grow up I would like to be a lawyer because I love to find justice to people who have been done wrong.”
“An ultrasound technician because I love watching the developing babies.”
“When I grow up I want to be a designer because I can make my own clothes.”
“Teacher because I want to Egnolage others.”
“I want to be a basketball player and engineer to support and help and be a good man.”
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