Progressive Education Fail

So today I had my very first ever Elementary teaching job interview. It was with Harlem Success Academy... in Harlem, and CJ forwarded my information. The phone interview yesterday went great! We hit it off and sounded like a good match and so they asked me to come in on Wednesday for a demo lesson with kindergartners. I had to send them my lesson and I had 45 minutes. I have never taught kindergarten before, so I raced to the nearest Barnes and Noble, bought The Alphabet Tree, and threw together a lesson.

I started off with a social contract. We agree to be in control of our bodies and our voices, etc. When I clap my hands that means stop and look up here. Right? Sounds good? Well, all the students (28 5-6year olds) agreed. I taught them the volume meter, and we practiced volume level and not "going" until I say "Action!" Sounds good right. Off to a good start. Then we began sharing our favorite letters. Good. Then we shaped them with our bodies. There was a little chaos but everything was still under control. Now that we had our favorite letters it was time to sit down to begin the story. This is where things started getting out of hand. Kids were sitting on each other, talking, pushing. I reminded them of their contract but they wouldn't be quiet. I got through the first couple of pages and then it was time to stand up and make our letters and hop from leaf to leaf. That was fine, but upon return, the same pushing, cluttering, talking. It was out of control from there. I tried to keep going but students were talking and jumping up and coming up to me and pulling the book and climbing on each other. Students were disconnect in the back, lying under the table, not wanting to be a letter. When the branches blew away and we huddled, students fell on each other and dog-piled. When we tried to spell out a word students were jumping up and down and running all over the place and not listening. Time was already over so I was just trying to get something out of it, but I should have stopped everything and re-grouped. After a round of applause and a dog-pile of joy, one student was crying. GREAT.

So she asked me to reflect and I don't really even remember what I said I was so flustered. She said that lesson would NEVER FLY in this school. How was I supposed to know that, right, but this is a Charter school and we run a very tight ship. How do you feel about structure? I said it was crucial and necessary and within schoolwide routines (which I had tried to bring in such as the clap and look... to which they just kept clapping), there was the ability for students to explore. She said she could see that I had wanted to students to explore and be free and action was a part of their philosophy, but if I wanted progressive education I should look elsewhere. She asked me if that structure was something I wanted? I said, yes, to have students focused and on task is ideal. She said that was something I needed to think about and be more prepared to talk about because we were out of time. She gave me my card and said we would need to figure out if that was something you wanted out of a school.

What. Happened. I was so blown away. Of course you want structure and discipline. I'm so confused. Granted yes the lesson was out of control and I would have done some things differently, but.... but... I understand that there needs to be structure and expectations. I can be more clear but I was trying to do that. This school is very very strict then? Is that what that means? I mean, I observed for 10 minutes and they were quiet sitting on the rug in their spots, at their desks working, "busy pens means busy minds" and they sang a song about sounds, words, sentences, paragraphs, essays, indentation, capitalization, punctuation. That's great. Why wouldn't I want that.

I wish I had more time and more guidelines. Like, what they were learning, or if I should have done a math lesson instead. I thought I would showcase my fun, get on your feet learning, which I guess is not appropriate for a Charter school. I just feel so terrible. The school was so cool and I would love to work there, I just need help! I can form to be the teacher they need with guidance!

To top it off I only got 2 hours of sleep because I was fixing up my portfolio which they didn't look at at all. I didn't even get to sit and talk with someone or collect my thoughts after the lesson. Which showed. Obviously.

FAIL.