What Is the Name of Your Dog?

Doug Hawkins

Description

This book tells the tale, through the eyes of the first male teacher in an elementary school and the classroom full of geniuses’.
This book is a tale of the first male elementary teacher in a school district in Southern California. The author takes the reader along a journey from the first day of teaching in a 6th grade class to the end of the first year as an elementary school teacher. The story shows the relationship between a mentor teacher and new teacher as he maneuvers the daily struggles and celebrations of teaching in a public school system. The story revolved around a teacher, his guide, and the students that taught him to become the very best teacher he could be. The story showcases how doing real world activities with students impact their curiosity to learn and deepens a teachers drive to love to teach.

Sujets

• Personal Memoirs
• Biography
• Education
• Children
• Autobiography
• Drama

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 22 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781663247827
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

What is the name of your dog?
A moment in time.
DOUG HAWKINS


WHAT IS THE NAME OF YOUR DOG? A MOMENT IN TIME.
 
Copyright © 2022 Doug Hawkins.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
 
 
iUniverse
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www.iuniverse.com
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4781-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4782-7 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022921346
 
 
 
iUniverse rev. date: 11/18/2022
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
 
Authors Notes

I would like to dedicate this book to my wife, Angela Hawkins and my two daughters.
I told you I could write a book!
ONE
U nlock the door and step into my very first classroom. Glance around the room. In the center of an enormous pile is a proper desk with drawers and a piece of paper taped to the top with the word teacher scrawled in black crayon. Dragged it out and placed it right in front of this giant blackboard. That’s where the teacher’s desk should be. Right in front where all the action takes place. Sat down in my teacher’s chair at my teacher’s desk and twenty-five years would pass before I ever sat there again.
On my first day of moving students’ desks around the room, an old teacher walked into my classroom and introduced herself. “My name is Burl and I teach sixth grade. I’m retired this year and returning to the Indian Reservation where I was born. Perhaps, you may need another teacher’s help as you begin your first year. If so, call me. Oh, do you think children are bad or good?” My answer, “I really haven’t thought about it.” As she started leaving the room, she paused, looked back, and said, “You will!” Later that day teachers told me that her Indian Name was Keeper of the Faith. What a strange moment!
Principal told me they would line students up at the door at 8AM. Sounded great to me and I was ready to go. Opened the door. Students came in, 31 of them found a seat, 17 of them were sitting on the floor. I introduced myself as the new sixth-grade teacher and had a list of their names. Checked off names of students in the classroom and notified the office of students not present. Simple! I had 48 students enter the room and had thirty-one chairs. Called the custodian and asked for chairs. He said, “The kindergarten teacher has similar issues and as soon as possible he will come to my room.” Major problem. He never came to my room.
Recess bell rings. Classroom doors slam open, and children race for the playground. I have fifteen minutes to come up with an answer to the seating problem and I run over to the teachers’ lounge seeking help!
The distance to the teachers’ lounge is three hundred yards or the length of three football fields. When I arrive at the lounge, teachers are flying back-and-forth, gathering stores of materials, and heading back to their classroom as quickly as they can. Only one teacher is sitting down drinking coffee and it’s Burl. I told Burl, “I need chairs and I’m searching for the custodian.” She replied, “He just left for home. He wasn’t feeling well.” Burl continued, “you have bookshelves around your room, put students on top of the bookshelves until the custodian comes back. Ask for volunteers and hint that kids on the bookshelves will be the first ones to go to recess.” I left the teacher’s lounge thinking that at least I have a plan. I told the kids the plan and every one of them volunteered. I picked seventeen students and put them on the bookshelves. Never got the chairs we needed. Rotated the entire classroom onto the bookshelves over the year.
After recess I handed out the books we were going to use in our class. There was a Social Studies book and an English book. There was a Science book and a Math book. Followed by a Spelling book and a Health book. The students made book covers; wrote their name on the covers and attached them to the books. We finished just in time to go to lunch. Escorted the class to the cafeteria and then supervised the students on the playground.
The afternoon didn’t go as well. Poor planning made me look ineffective and dismissal time turned into a nightmare. I could sense the kids’ disappointment in their new sixth grade teacher. After the students went home, I started writing lesson plans for the next day on the chalkboard. As I’m writing Burl pokes her head into my classroom, “How did it go today?” Before I could answer she said, “It gets better every day. I’ll see you tomorrow, and off she goes.”
TWO
A s the next day began, I arrived early, almost pre-dawn, and discovered Burl already in her classroom. I knocked on her door and she waved me in. She said,” I hope you’re an early bird.” I told her I was born an early bird, two in the morning, and then proceeded to ask her. “How do you start your day?” She began, “The bell rings at 8am. The students enter the room, put their belongings away and sit down. I take roll and then ask everyone to please stand for the Pledge. We recite the pledge and that is the opening of the day.” I asked her, “When do we sing the National Anthem?” “You can sing?” she stared at me, puzzled. “Yes” I said. “Let me hear you.” She replied. At dawn I sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow in a sixth-grade classroom in my colleague’s room as she stared at me in disbelief. When I finished singing, “Will you sing the National Anthem with our classrooms each morning?” she inquired hesitantly. “Yes.” I replied. “Perhaps, we could do both, the pledge and sing the Anthem outside on the lawn in front of our classrooms to start the school day. Think about it!” She suggested.
As I was leaving her room, I noticed that there were no name tags on the pupils’ desks. Every room I visited had name tags on the desks but not Burl. That’s weird, I thought. I was halfway out the door when Burl said, “Take the name tags off of the desks. Make certain you memorize students’ names tonight using your roll sheet. You need to know your kids’ names. You need to learn parents’ names, grandparents’ names, even the dogs and cat’s name. The more you learn about your students, the more effective you will be while planning what you will teach, as well as what methods you will use. The positive relationships developed between you and your students is the driving force that allows children to learn. Relationships are everything in education. Curriculum is secondary.”
I retreated to my classroom and removed the name tags from the student’s desks. I was thinking about what Burl had said about relationships. The university where I received my teacher training stated over and over that Curriculum is all that matters. I began hearing Indian drums in the distance.
Friday morning, I took roll and began the pledge. After the pledge I sang the National Anthem and one kid feeling sorry for me joined in. Not good. Thursday, they felt I might be ok after changing bookshelves into seats. Friday morning, after singing, they were sure their new teacher was not ok.
I introduced the new spelling book and had everyone open to page number one. A boyish young man interrupts the lesson before we got started. Tommy says, “Where are our name tags?” I replied, “As your teacher I should know your name. “Tommy instantly asked me to name every student in the room. I call out all forty-eight names without a roll sheet. Burl had told me to memorize their names. Almost instantly after I had finished with their names I could sense what they were thinking. That was really cool. This guy might be OK after all.
Lunchtime told Burl about the name tags, and she says to me, “Oh that’s nice, but did you know that teaching is a subversive activity?” I responded with a loud, “What!” as the principal walked into the teacher’s lunchroom. He said, “Hi” to everybody except me. He has forgotten my name. Should have had a name tag on my jacket. After lunch the entire student body takes a fifteen-minute rest break. Heads down on the desk, eyes closed, rest break. How does that work when you’re sitting on a bookshelf? I’ll bring that up to the Principal as soon as I can.
Instead of a rest break I told the students that we would have a Town Hall meeting. I explained the concept to the class and asked the following question. “What concerns do you have about your school and your classroom?” Two and a half hours later, after discussing at least a hundred issues, it boils down to four major concerns. Firs