Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Where did those rainbows and butterflies go?
Well, this year so far has been reasonably different from last year. Especially in the sense that I am not freaking out about the most minor things. Even though I am teaching a new class, it's still biology, so I know the lessons for the most part. Basically what that boils down to is that, yes, I can still (and will and have been!) modify and create new plans, but if I need to fall back on something, I know that I've done it before. It won't be as hard. Or at least it's not supposed to be.
One of the things I was told that I needed to work on last year was fostering a sense of community in my classroom instead of fear, but a month into the year I'm thinking this wasn't the smartest way to go. I think I started the year off being too nice and I'm seeing some behaviors in my kids that are scaring the living bejesus out of me. With that, I am trying to scream less and try to talk things out with them more, which works in most of my classes.
Most things work in most of my classes. I have an interesting group of kids this year. I have a really tough group where the mix in one of my classes is just horrendous. More than half of that class is full of troublemakers who couldn't care less. I'm trying to call home more but I've gotten so much resistance from the other end of the phone line that it seems worthless to try. I think I'm making massive amounts of phone calls come Monday. I'm also really hoping that something as simple as a seating arrangement change can fix some problems. That is something that worked last year but taught me a very important lesson last year: if it 'aint broke, don't fix it. So if the seating arrangement seems to be working, I'm leaving it as is.
Some of my classes are really great. I have awesome kids who are really trying. Some new systems that I put in place this year have been working well. Most of my students seem really receptive to free homework passes and extra credit given for non-academic things.
I just need to change some seats this week and call 100+ houses so I can have awesome classes all day long.
One of the things I was told that I needed to work on last year was fostering a sense of community in my classroom instead of fear, but a month into the year I'm thinking this wasn't the smartest way to go. I think I started the year off being too nice and I'm seeing some behaviors in my kids that are scaring the living bejesus out of me. With that, I am trying to scream less and try to talk things out with them more, which works in most of my classes.
Most things work in most of my classes. I have an interesting group of kids this year. I have a really tough group where the mix in one of my classes is just horrendous. More than half of that class is full of troublemakers who couldn't care less. I'm trying to call home more but I've gotten so much resistance from the other end of the phone line that it seems worthless to try. I think I'm making massive amounts of phone calls come Monday. I'm also really hoping that something as simple as a seating arrangement change can fix some problems. That is something that worked last year but taught me a very important lesson last year: if it 'aint broke, don't fix it. So if the seating arrangement seems to be working, I'm leaving it as is.
Some of my classes are really great. I have awesome kids who are really trying. Some new systems that I put in place this year have been working well. Most of my students seem really receptive to free homework passes and extra credit given for non-academic things.
I just need to change some seats this week and call 100+ houses so I can have awesome classes all day long.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Getting ready!
Since labor day is so ridiculously late this year, we are starting school ridiculously late - next Wednesday. Eek! I have been getting my classroom ready (which even though I feel like I did tons of stuff in June and I have been doing tons of stuff all summer, still feels like it won't be ready by next week. On a side note, this is probably because I keep adding more and more stuff to my plate. Whatever.
I'm definitely not as nervous as I was last year. I kind of know what to expect now, although I'm sure the first day will still be full of surprises. I'm doing a couple new things this upcoming school year (new class, new other responsibilities), so that should be interesting too. I am pretty gosh darn excited though. I really want to meet thetroublemakers darling students and get things off to a good start. I have all these new systems in place that I want to implement, but I need to figure out the "how" before the kids come. These systems should help me be organized (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - I REALLY want to be able to see my desk this year), give my kids a bigger sense of accountability for lates/missing homework/goodies for doing good to have less lates/missing assignments in the future (something I had big time issues with last year), and ya know, rainbows and butterflies everywhere. Yay!
t - 9 days
I'm definitely not as nervous as I was last year. I kind of know what to expect now, although I'm sure the first day will still be full of surprises. I'm doing a couple new things this upcoming school year (new class, new other responsibilities), so that should be interesting too. I am pretty gosh darn excited though. I really want to meet the
t - 9 days
Monday, July 13, 2009
I can't believe I'm saying this...
I miss work. It's only July!!!
On summer vacation, no one raps my name when they see me in the morning. I miss getting my morning hello in rap form.
I also miss the crazy day-to-day that teaching is. I guess I really do love this job. :-) I'm definitely definitely definitely not ready to go back tomorrow, but I sure do miss it.
On summer vacation, no one raps my name when they see me in the morning. I miss getting my morning hello in rap form.
I also miss the crazy day-to-day that teaching is. I guess I really do love this job. :-) I'm definitely definitely definitely not ready to go back tomorrow, but I sure do miss it.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
looking forward
I've been pretty sucktastic with the posting. School's over. The past month or so of school I was finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm definitely glad that I made it through the first year. If I look back at the first week, I wanted to quit so badly because I was having such a hard time and I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. I'm really glad that I stuck with it.
I learned so much from my kids, all ~100 of them. I've (started to) learn how to teach. I've learned how to work with many many many different kinds of people - students and faculty. I've learned more about my own field, through explaining it to others. I've learned more Spanish through working with my ELLs, even a little bit of French (sadly no others, even though my kids had a few more up their sleeves). I've learned that little old me has been someone that some of these kids (definitely not all) look up to and come to for support. I've learned that some of them may never like me. I've learned that's okay. I've learned what I will repeat next year and what I will change come the first day of school in September.
Something that will definitely change in September is that I will not be teaching the same classes. I will be teaching Biology, because that is what my certification is in, but I will not be teaching the same levels. No more ELL; instead a college-preparatory level of biology combined with the lower level biology that I taught this past year. I'm really excited for the college prep bio. I think that the kids will be easier in terms of behavioral issues. I'm also really excited for the ELL kids taking biology next year - their teacher is awesome. He has so many fantastic materials and knows the way to implement them and is so creative and will really work well with them. I hope that the new ELL teacher has a better time with them than I sometimes did.
That's weird to say though, because my favorite class was an ELL class. I loved them. It was a tiny class and everyone got along and was incredibly excited about learning. I hope I get that same excitement with some of next year's kids. My worst class was also an ELL class. Overfilled, overly rambunctious, couldn't care less if they were there or not. I guess it's all the luck of the draw. These kids are of a different breed; they are very secluded from the rest of the school - they are extremely sheltered. I tried to make it so that they needed to learn English, most of their other teachers didn't. If you don't have to speak English at school, and you don't have to speak it with your friends and you don't have to speak it at home, why ever learn? I tried to make it so you needed English. The progress and development of their English throughout the course of the school year that I saw made me extremely proud. Proud because I believe that you do need English, and it is much easier to learn it when you are younger and when are surrounded by it, for at least one class period a day.
I will miss them. They are very caring students. I remember one time, another science teacher came into my room and I was sitting at a table with my translator (we weren't talking - just sitting). The room was silent - you could have heard a pin drop. The other science teacher asked me what horrible thing I did to get them to be that quiet. All I had done was told them that I had a migraine and gave them some GROUP!!! work to do - they worked on it individually which is very difficult for a class where some kids have a great deal of trouble reading. Upon hearing this, the other teacher asked if I really had a migraine. Of course - I wasn't about to lie to them just to get some quiet. All of their work was quietly handed in at the end of the period.
My non-ELL classes of the time would never have done that.
I'm definitely glad that I made it through the first year. If I look back at the first week, I wanted to quit so badly because I was having such a hard time and I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. I'm really glad that I stuck with it.
I learned so much from my kids, all ~100 of them. I've (started to) learn how to teach. I've learned how to work with many many many different kinds of people - students and faculty. I've learned more about my own field, through explaining it to others. I've learned more Spanish through working with my ELLs, even a little bit of French (sadly no others, even though my kids had a few more up their sleeves). I've learned that little old me has been someone that some of these kids (definitely not all) look up to and come to for support. I've learned that some of them may never like me. I've learned that's okay. I've learned what I will repeat next year and what I will change come the first day of school in September.
Something that will definitely change in September is that I will not be teaching the same classes. I will be teaching Biology, because that is what my certification is in, but I will not be teaching the same levels. No more ELL; instead a college-preparatory level of biology combined with the lower level biology that I taught this past year. I'm really excited for the college prep bio. I think that the kids will be easier in terms of behavioral issues. I'm also really excited for the ELL kids taking biology next year - their teacher is awesome. He has so many fantastic materials and knows the way to implement them and is so creative and will really work well with them. I hope that the new ELL teacher has a better time with them than I sometimes did.
That's weird to say though, because my favorite class was an ELL class. I loved them. It was a tiny class and everyone got along and was incredibly excited about learning. I hope I get that same excitement with some of next year's kids. My worst class was also an ELL class. Overfilled, overly rambunctious, couldn't care less if they were there or not. I guess it's all the luck of the draw. These kids are of a different breed; they are very secluded from the rest of the school - they are extremely sheltered. I tried to make it so that they needed to learn English, most of their other teachers didn't. If you don't have to speak English at school, and you don't have to speak it with your friends and you don't have to speak it at home, why ever learn? I tried to make it so you needed English. The progress and development of their English throughout the course of the school year that I saw made me extremely proud. Proud because I believe that you do need English, and it is much easier to learn it when you are younger and when are surrounded by it, for at least one class period a day.
I will miss them. They are very caring students. I remember one time, another science teacher came into my room and I was sitting at a table with my translator (we weren't talking - just sitting). The room was silent - you could have heard a pin drop. The other science teacher asked me what horrible thing I did to get them to be that quiet. All I had done was told them that I had a migraine and gave them some GROUP!!! work to do - they worked on it individually which is very difficult for a class where some kids have a great deal of trouble reading. Upon hearing this, the other teacher asked if I really had a migraine. Of course - I wasn't about to lie to them just to get some quiet. All of their work was quietly handed in at the end of the period.
My non-ELL classes of the time would never have done that.
Monday, May 18, 2009
woohoo
I (basically) got rehired for next year. Only basically, because I still have yet to sign the magical piece of paper - the contract. But, I have gotten all of my observations, and I've talked with my boss about what assignments I will have next year (maybe something different than this year! exciting).
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