Saturday, October 19, 2013
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Rules to Live By
Be kind to your custodian, so that when one of your students pukes in the garbage can, they'll clean it up right away.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Bye Bye September
Oh hello there. It's been a while. Probably for good reason.
The rest of September was pretty rough. There was a moment I almost cried in front of my class (Teacher Rule #1: Never show them weakness!) as I tried to convince them that I'm not a mean teacher, I just need them to stop fooling around and get with the class. The next day I did cry in front of my principal, as she said that she could tell I was starting to get stressed out. Strangely enough after those 2 days I felt a lot better and haven't had a breakdown since.
We're now into the second month of school, and my EA and I are working hard to believe that our students are starting to get it. That things are starting to settle down. That the kids are learning the routine and remembering how to behave in school. And to be fair, they are. The final lesson of the week was Art, and I didn't have to give them constant reminders that they were too loud and getting too silly. My reward system has been implemented, I've started building a book bug around the classroom with them (everyone who reads 15 minutes a night gets a body part to add to the bug), I'm wrapping up my first math unit and getting ready to assess.
Curriculum wise I'm feeling more confident and prepared. Science I just picked units from each grade that I thought would pair along with each other, or that I found interesting. For Social, I am planning on teaching the Grade 3 curriculum but incorporating the Grade 4 curriculum alongside. Math I was having a bit of a panic attack with, but then I was given a great resource from Math Makes Sense (which, unfortunately, many teachers refer to as Math Doesn't Make Sense, but I found that out after the fact and I'm just going to roll with it) that basically laid out exactly how to teach what to each grade. In our PD yesterday the words IPPs and Progress Reports were already mentioned so it's time to start looking at those fun things already.
Even with those looming, October is going to be a fun month. It's Read-In Week next week, and my class has 5 or 6 people coming to read to them for half an hour. The school is also hosting an Artist in Residency which will be fun, and my class is starting a mentor program which means we essentially get a 2 hour field trip every week. For the whole year! Right now I'm guaranteed to be there til the end of October, but that's just unnecessary stress right now.
The rest of September was pretty rough. There was a moment I almost cried in front of my class (Teacher Rule #1: Never show them weakness!) as I tried to convince them that I'm not a mean teacher, I just need them to stop fooling around and get with the class. The next day I did cry in front of my principal, as she said that she could tell I was starting to get stressed out. Strangely enough after those 2 days I felt a lot better and haven't had a breakdown since.
We're now into the second month of school, and my EA and I are working hard to believe that our students are starting to get it. That things are starting to settle down. That the kids are learning the routine and remembering how to behave in school. And to be fair, they are. The final lesson of the week was Art, and I didn't have to give them constant reminders that they were too loud and getting too silly. My reward system has been implemented, I've started building a book bug around the classroom with them (everyone who reads 15 minutes a night gets a body part to add to the bug), I'm wrapping up my first math unit and getting ready to assess.
Curriculum wise I'm feeling more confident and prepared. Science I just picked units from each grade that I thought would pair along with each other, or that I found interesting. For Social, I am planning on teaching the Grade 3 curriculum but incorporating the Grade 4 curriculum alongside. Math I was having a bit of a panic attack with, but then I was given a great resource from Math Makes Sense (which, unfortunately, many teachers refer to as Math Doesn't Make Sense, but I found that out after the fact and I'm just going to roll with it) that basically laid out exactly how to teach what to each grade. In our PD yesterday the words IPPs and Progress Reports were already mentioned so it's time to start looking at those fun things already.
Even with those looming, October is going to be a fun month. It's Read-In Week next week, and my class has 5 or 6 people coming to read to them for half an hour. The school is also hosting an Artist in Residency which will be fun, and my class is starting a mentor program which means we essentially get a 2 hour field trip every week. For the whole year! Right now I'm guaranteed to be there til the end of October, but that's just unnecessary stress right now.
Friday, September 13, 2013
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.
Grade 3. Yeah.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Saturday, September 7, 2013
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.
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.
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