Dub tee eff.

Pretty certain I just did a reading session with that girl you don't want to talk to at a party. For reference.

Grade 3. Yeah.

This just happened.

"What's a brony?"

"It's a boy who likes My Little Ponies."

1 week down, 39 to go.

Friday was a gong show, to put it mildly. Kids crawling around on the floor, kids being unsafe in the gym, ridiculous girl drama that makes my head throb. I settled them back down in the afternoon with an art project many of them seemed to enjoy. But yeah, I was definitely ready for the day to be over.

Some school background: I'm working at an inner city school with quite a small population. Due to the nature of the neighborhood, we have a pretty transient population, with families just up and leaving with no warning, and new ones coming in. School isn't given a high priority, so attendance isn't the greatest. Last year, during my 9 week practicum, I saw one student maybe 8 days. 

I know that, despite the challenges of the neighborhood, I am in an extremely good situation for my first long-term (fingers crossed) teaching job. I did my placement at this school, I did some private EA work at the school, so the kids have seen me around, and I know quite a bit of names and some background on some of them. I know what to expect, for some part, regarding behaviors and expectations and why they are the way they are. One of my students didn't go home this week, at all. They couldn't - they didn't have bus tickets to get there. That's probably why they weren't a joy to have in class. Another of my students is a selective mute (info here: Selective Mutism). Having a new teacher is probably super stressful for this student, but because I know the history, and they've seen me around the school before, I'm not pushing them to talk, and I have heard this student talk in class. Just not to me, but that's still huge!

Anyway. I'm heading back to the school to get things organized, and things planned. I'm hoping that with more structure, with less idle time, the days will start to get smoother, and I won't want to bang my head against my desk by the end of the week.

A Representation of my day

Today I sent a student to Grade 1 to learn how to sit in a desk properly. 

True story.

First Day Down

I made it through the first 2 days! They were a little rocky at times, but today was definitely better than yesterday, so upwards from here! (Hopefully).

I'm fortunate enough to have an Educational Assistant (EA) in my classroom. Today we talked about how I am keeping in the back of my mind that it has only been 2 days, and they will learn my expectations, and things will settle down. But on the flip side are the students who we flagged coming into the school year, who are doing amazingly right now, but it has only been 2 days, and they are going to get fired up.

With the first 2 days down, I now find myself scrambling to plan things to fill up Thursday and Friday before the weekend. Tomorrow luckily I catch a bit of a break, as my class has their first music class, and there's also a school wide assembly, AND it's early dismissal. Friday is looming large in the back of my mind though.

It goes back to what I said earlier - teaching is not necessarily hard work, but it is a lot of work. (A lot is one of the Word Wall words I gave today. Oooh, connection!) I have heard many teachers say that it takes 2 - 3 years before you get a curriculum down and know what you want to teach and how you want to teach. So coming in, sorting through 2 curriculums I'm not familiar with, in a class that, so far, has shown little patience, is going to be a bumpy ride. I'm planning on spending most of my weekend organizing and planning.

Some things I need to plan:

• my reward system. Right now my students need a lot of reminding about proper behavior in the classroom, and I'm going to dole out mad rewards and then scale back. I'm planning on using a ticket system my mentor teacher used, which will end in a weekly draw.
• Early finisher work. There is a wide discrepancy in my class of knowledge and skill level. I have a few 'keeners' that I need to keep busy, or they will get bored and start acting up. I'm planning on giving each student a binder that is divided into the different subjects, and when they finish early they go to that binder and work on something that I've placed there for them.
• Grid - another reward system. They have a chance to earn stickers daily, for bringing their agenda back signed, doing daily reading, and showing up on time....or maybe for having their homework done, I haven't quite decided yet.
• I need to talk to my principal and find out how to best assess a split class. I'm assuming I'm teaching the Grade 3 students French....but do I put it on their report card? That sort of thing.
• And....pretty much everything I'm planning on teaching for the next couple of weeks.

September is going to be rough. My husband already knows not to expect me around too often, and I've already put him to work cutting out some laminated things I brought home today. I'm hoping that if I put in some good hours on the weekends, my evenings won't be as insane.