Educating Esme

Our group read a book about a teacher's first year and the many struggles she faced. This book was absolutely perfect for us, because it shows the dedication that we need to express in our teaching. She had so many effective strategies that we expressed in the video we made for class, and I think many future teachers would benefit from her experiences. Madame Esme had to deal with frustrating administration, gang members, abusive parents and her own insecurities as a first year teacher. We were especially impressed by the way she solved conflicts in her classroom. Her method for the students was simple and effective: 1. Tell person what you didn’t like.
2. Tell person how it made you feel.
3. Tell person what you want in the future.
4. Person responds with what they can do.
Then at the bottom of the board it said, “Congratulations! You are a Confident Conflict Conqueror!” She also held “conflict resolution meetings” every Friday and they were eventually mediated entirely by the students. She made her expectations completely clear and told them that they were going work harder than ever before. She tried to seem mean for the first few days, dressing up like a witch, trying to be dramatic, and told them that she had taught football players, cowboys, dinosaurs, and Martians. When a student said they hated her, she said, "You can hate me all you want. It's your prerogative, your choice. But no matter how you feel about me, I will always love you." She stood up to the administrators to protect and defend her morals, and saw change because of it. My favorite quote from the book is as follows; "A beginning teacher asks, 'How am I doing?' An experienced teacher asks, 'How are the students doing?'" Her focus was entirely on the students, and I found that to be the most impressive quality of all.

To view our video about Esme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIySiQtXQwQ