Well, I guess if you looked at the date of my last post, that could be SOME indication of how my year is going.
I feel stressed and cut as thin as I absolutely could be, and I love every single second of it. Teaching has been nothing at all like I thought it would be. I learn something new, and I am surprised at my students and my self every single day.
I wanted to keep this blog as a regular log of the trials and triumphs of a first year teacher- and I have not been successful with this goal.
The good news: I have only had one major "trial" and it didn't involve any students.
I have really great students. They are funny and keep me on my toes. I feel like I have a great relationship with them, and I feel like they are getting a fair amount out of my class. We are currently reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and they are hungry for that book. I always teach a lesson before we get to reading the novel, and they are so eager to read that they want to rush me through the lesson. As a lover of literature, that makes my heart flip with joy.
I also go my dream wish, and I am the new Drama Club sponsor for the school. I am currently working on a play which I put together (just 4 children's books about school) and my kids are amazing actors- I just wish I could get ALL of them to show up to rehearsal all at once.
I hope to do a better job of frequently updating on what's going on in school- mostly what I have learned...so to satisfy your visit, here is a list of things I have learned about middle schoolers:
1. They are mature one minute where you feel you are talking to an adult, and complete babies the next. Sometimes, this can happen in the same sentence.
2. If they EVER misplace something such as a pencil or classwork, someone stole it. Then, when they find where they put it, someone still stole it and put it there.
3. They have bladders worse than an old person. Somehow they have to go to the bathroom once a class period. After several weeks of falling for this one, I became wise and the jig was up.
4. They want to be treated with respect and like individuals. I try my hardest to do this- but I'm not always capable of the second part.
5. They have a price- and it is usually a silly band. If I need one of them to study harder or complete an assignment, the promise of silly bands is the trick.
6. They enjoy responsibility. I have created a million little jobs around my classroom, and they fight for them- even to sweep the classroom. They want to feel important.
7. No matter what you think, yelling will never give you results.
8. If anything is broken or different, they have to tell you about it. All of them. I was doing hall duty in between classes, and 20 kids had to let me know a poster fell off the wall.
9. So far, the male students need more affection than the females. I have a handful of male students who constantly want hugs. After dodging their hugs for several weeks, we have started high-fiving.
10. Anyone out of high school is old. My kids get a kick out of anything "young" I know about because I am too old in their eyes. I have a really bad habit of talking in internet speak to them- and they think I am trying "to be hip to their generation." Although, several times they have mentioned music and stuff on tv that I don't know about and they can't believe I haven't heard of things like Wacka Flocka and how to dougie. Although, I did get a dougie lesson one day. I looked like a moron.
It's been special experience so far.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
5 Days Until Students
I'm absolutely exhausted, but in a delightful way.
Last Wednesday and Friday I went to an in-service on Unit Planning. Before I was there, my school required teachers to submit weekly lesson plans to the principals. However, this year they want teachers to write full unit plans with attached lesson plans so that teachers can see the big picture and use the whole unit as a chance to scaffold ideas and build on knowledge.
At the in-service we spent a little time talking about why we unit plan and how we unit plan and then the teachers were given the chance to go back to their classrooms to write lesson plans.
Many teachers voiced in these sessions how hard of a tasks this was to do after so many years of the previous format. While this is no easy task for me, I feel pretty good that this was the exact way APSU wanted us to do our lesson planning.
Working on my unit plan:
The first unit of the year is Informational Text (non-fiction type resources- think magazines, newspapers, blogs, etc). I have decided to teach The Diary of Anne Frank (which is a DIARY a.k.a. an informational text!) and use the Holocaust and WWII has source of inspiration for the informational text part. I am pretty stoked because TDofAF was one of my favorite books growing up.
On the first day of unit planning, I did not get a lot completed. I did manage to look at all the standards for the unit, decide on my summative assessment, and write essential questions for the unit. On Friday I actually got around to writing rough drafts of lessons for the first week.
On the Thursday in between those days I had to spend my entire day - from 7:45 to 4:30- at Central Office to fill out paper work, sign my teaching contract, sign up for insurance and benefits, learn how to use certain teacher computer systems, etc.
It was a really LONG, but really helpful day.
I was the most intrigued with the insurance and benefits portion. So much of it seemed too good to be true that I had to call my mother afterwards to confirm that I heard correctly. I haven't had insurance since I graduated high school, and I have a lot of medical issues that need to be looked at. I felt like someone was handing me gold. For one, I couldn't believe thatI can get ANY generic medicines for free. A doctor just writes me a prescription and I go turn it in and they hand me drugs and I DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM! I can also GET MY TEETH CLEANED and pay NOTHING.
I'm starting to get worked up again......this is pure heaven.
This is the last weekend before school starts. Normally I would have found a way to use this as an excuse to do absolutely nothing, but this weekend is the Nashville 48 Hour Film Project, and we compete each year. It is something that I look forward to every year, so I decided to just add it in to the million other things I need to do this week.
I have in-service all next week, and our first day of school is a half day this Friday. I have very ambitious goals to have my entire 44 day-lesson unit plan done on Thursday and to get my classroom completely ready.
Last Wednesday and Friday I went to an in-service on Unit Planning. Before I was there, my school required teachers to submit weekly lesson plans to the principals. However, this year they want teachers to write full unit plans with attached lesson plans so that teachers can see the big picture and use the whole unit as a chance to scaffold ideas and build on knowledge.
At the in-service we spent a little time talking about why we unit plan and how we unit plan and then the teachers were given the chance to go back to their classrooms to write lesson plans.
Many teachers voiced in these sessions how hard of a tasks this was to do after so many years of the previous format. While this is no easy task for me, I feel pretty good that this was the exact way APSU wanted us to do our lesson planning.
Working on my unit plan:
The first unit of the year is Informational Text (non-fiction type resources- think magazines, newspapers, blogs, etc). I have decided to teach The Diary of Anne Frank (which is a DIARY a.k.a. an informational text!) and use the Holocaust and WWII has source of inspiration for the informational text part. I am pretty stoked because TDofAF was one of my favorite books growing up.
On the first day of unit planning, I did not get a lot completed. I did manage to look at all the standards for the unit, decide on my summative assessment, and write essential questions for the unit. On Friday I actually got around to writing rough drafts of lessons for the first week.
On the Thursday in between those days I had to spend my entire day - from 7:45 to 4:30- at Central Office to fill out paper work, sign my teaching contract, sign up for insurance and benefits, learn how to use certain teacher computer systems, etc.
It was a really LONG, but really helpful day.
I was the most intrigued with the insurance and benefits portion. So much of it seemed too good to be true that I had to call my mother afterwards to confirm that I heard correctly. I haven't had insurance since I graduated high school, and I have a lot of medical issues that need to be looked at. I felt like someone was handing me gold. For one, I couldn't believe thatI can get ANY generic medicines for free. A doctor just writes me a prescription and I go turn it in and they hand me drugs and I DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM! I can also GET MY TEETH CLEANED and pay NOTHING.
I'm starting to get worked up again......this is pure heaven.
This is the last weekend before school starts. Normally I would have found a way to use this as an excuse to do absolutely nothing, but this weekend is the Nashville 48 Hour Film Project, and we compete each year. It is something that I look forward to every year, so I decided to just add it in to the million other things I need to do this week.
I have in-service all next week, and our first day of school is a half day this Friday. I have very ambitious goals to have my entire 44 day-lesson unit plan done on Thursday and to get my classroom completely ready.
Monday, July 26, 2010
11 Days Until Students
I showed up to my school today for the first time by myself. I was lucky enough to receive my keys. I was only expecting to get one key to open the door with, but I received several keys for things such as filing cabinets and what not. It is going to take some time getting used to which one is used for what.
As soon as I went down to my classroom I just stood there for the longest time. I keep phasing out mentally. I did this at dinner last night with a friend. I guess I am having a hard time adjusting to the fact that I am seeing all of my dreams actually come true. I am also scared that at any minute someone is going to say, "Hahaha j/k! You don't get to be a teacher anymore."
After coming to and realizing that I can not just stand there all day, I decided I would rearrange the furniture first. I started with the student desks and played around with several formations until settling on six rows of four and pushing the desks together in twos with enough space to walk in between them as seen in this photo:
As soon as I was satisfied with their placement, I cleaned each desk off with cleaning spray. I want to make a mental note to mark where the desks are, maybe with a marker on the ground or a small piece of tape. I plan on moving the desks frequently for group work or discussion circles, so I want to make sure the kids can put them back exactly how I have them.
I then moved my desk and small filing cabinet from one back corner to the side of the room. My mom suggested this arrangement, because I would have a clear view of the front door- and I agreed.
I put the flat file where the desk was and moved my small group table into the center of the back of the room.
As soon as all of the furniture was arranged, I began the hour and a half process of cleaning. I wiped out every drawer, counter, and cabinet. It was really disgusting, but thankfully clean as a whistle now.
After I was grossly sweaty and tired, I left to come home and gather up a load of things to bring into the classroom.
It was almost all items for my desk:
My rug...a book shelf will go here soon:
The only thing from home I brought in these pictures is a statue of a Jim Shore Teacher Minnie Mouse that my husband bought me about two years ago.
Then, I put out just a few things on this counter...note the argyle tissue box
While working, two teachers came in to introduce themselves to me, as did three members of the janitorial staff. They were all really nice and welcoming- telling me several times that if I needed anything to just ask.
While talking to one of them, (who I had actually met before) I told her that I was a former student of this school and so was she. We talked a little bit about how coming to this school felt like coming home.
I am teaching 8th grade ELA this year which is reading and language arts as one class. Funny enough, I had English in the exact same classroom that I will be teaching in that I had as an 8th grader. Even funnier, this same classroom was the classroom that I met my best friend for the first time on the first day of school.
Life is the funniest thing sometimes.
I still have a LOT left to do with my short 11 days until I get real live students of my very own. I am scared and nervous, but excited and optimistic.
As soon as I went down to my classroom I just stood there for the longest time. I keep phasing out mentally. I did this at dinner last night with a friend. I guess I am having a hard time adjusting to the fact that I am seeing all of my dreams actually come true. I am also scared that at any minute someone is going to say, "Hahaha j/k! You don't get to be a teacher anymore."
After coming to and realizing that I can not just stand there all day, I decided I would rearrange the furniture first. I started with the student desks and played around with several formations until settling on six rows of four and pushing the desks together in twos with enough space to walk in between them as seen in this photo:
As soon as I was satisfied with their placement, I cleaned each desk off with cleaning spray. I want to make a mental note to mark where the desks are, maybe with a marker on the ground or a small piece of tape. I plan on moving the desks frequently for group work or discussion circles, so I want to make sure the kids can put them back exactly how I have them.
I then moved my desk and small filing cabinet from one back corner to the side of the room. My mom suggested this arrangement, because I would have a clear view of the front door- and I agreed.
I put the flat file where the desk was and moved my small group table into the center of the back of the room.
As soon as all of the furniture was arranged, I began the hour and a half process of cleaning. I wiped out every drawer, counter, and cabinet. It was really disgusting, but thankfully clean as a whistle now.
After I was grossly sweaty and tired, I left to come home and gather up a load of things to bring into the classroom.
It was almost all items for my desk:
My rug...a book shelf will go here soon:
The only thing from home I brought in these pictures is a statue of a Jim Shore Teacher Minnie Mouse that my husband bought me about two years ago.
Then, I put out just a few things on this counter...note the argyle tissue box
While working, two teachers came in to introduce themselves to me, as did three members of the janitorial staff. They were all really nice and welcoming- telling me several times that if I needed anything to just ask.
While talking to one of them, (who I had actually met before) I told her that I was a former student of this school and so was she. We talked a little bit about how coming to this school felt like coming home.
I am teaching 8th grade ELA this year which is reading and language arts as one class. Funny enough, I had English in the exact same classroom that I will be teaching in that I had as an 8th grader. Even funnier, this same classroom was the classroom that I met my best friend for the first time on the first day of school.
Life is the funniest thing sometimes.
I still have a LOT left to do with my short 11 days until I get real live students of my very own. I am scared and nervous, but excited and optimistic.
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