Tuesday after my last English class I had to run down to the copier for a few papers. When I came back, the teacher across the hall asked if I wanted to trade advisory base for the day. Twenty minutes, so I said sure. Wednesday I adopted the same no-talking rule in all of my classes during our writing session. They are used to Freewrites when I play music and everyone writes. No music in any classes. Different results in each class. Tomorrow I will ask the students to reflect on how it went.
I have got to STOP DOUBTING and START BELIEVING in my strength as a teacher. I have grown so much this year. I have to do some pretty difficult things sometimes and I make decisions that I can be proud of. I know at least the other teachers are supportive of me.
Even on the worst days, most students work and I feel that they learn what I teach. But I want to push them to do more. I want my class to build every kid's writing, social, and organizational skills substantially.
One of the main reasons new teachers get burnt out and quit teaching is discipline. It is the most frustrating part of the job so far, without a doubt. I am so thankful that the other teachers back me up and are there to help. Next year I will make it harder for the kids to fail, and easier for me to show them: I AM IN CHARGE.
At least now I have the means to show them power point slides for the first time all year. Woohoo!
Amanda writes to find her voice and to follow the footsteps to see where they lead.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
re- commendation
My admin. have approved me for one more year. I am still coping with my last two months as first-year teacher. My second year will surely be a different experience from this year.
Teaching can be really fun and I look forward to doing this job with more experience and less stress. My first year I think I still have a lot to figure out about my classroom. Granted, I did get sort of thrown into this position. I feel grateful that my administration wants me to become a better teacher. There are even opportunities for me to finish my education while working here.
Had an idea for a field journal type of thing with the science teacher.
I want to take the kids out and walk around for "observation journals." She is used to outdoor-ed, I am fearful of kids reclaiming their freedom and running from this compulsory child care :)
Teaching can be really fun and I look forward to doing this job with more experience and less stress. My first year I think I still have a lot to figure out about my classroom. Granted, I did get sort of thrown into this position. I feel grateful that my administration wants me to become a better teacher. There are even opportunities for me to finish my education while working here.
Had an idea for a field journal type of thing with the science teacher.
I want to take the kids out and walk around for "observation journals." She is used to outdoor-ed, I am fearful of kids reclaiming their freedom and running from this compulsory child care :)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Coolest Kids In School
Today I was observed by the principal himself. No clues about my evaluation from his poker face. He's good.
The kids leave me no reason to worry. They had insights during the lesson. Most of them payed attention to me and to one another. I liked the story we read and I had participation from everyone whom I called on. I tried to make it fun and keep us moving and nobody fell asleep like yesterday.
I have been stressed. Oh man, it's easy to feel sloppy when you realize your zipper has busted. Cheap pants? Or steady diet of energy drinks and lounge dessert snacks? Teach on, teacher! Even with broken pants I calmed kids down, engaged them, and hopefully taught them. We'll see tomorrow. Tonight, I shop for food!
The kids leave me no reason to worry. They had insights during the lesson. Most of them payed attention to me and to one another. I liked the story we read and I had participation from everyone whom I called on. I tried to make it fun and keep us moving and nobody fell asleep like yesterday.
I have been stressed. Oh man, it's easy to feel sloppy when you realize your zipper has busted. Cheap pants? Or steady diet of energy drinks and lounge dessert snacks? Teach on, teacher! Even with broken pants I calmed kids down, engaged them, and hopefully taught them. We'll see tomorrow. Tonight, I shop for food!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Gaining Experience Points
I have to admit that I'm a geek. My hobbies include computers and video games and science fiction. (Though I also like hiking and bicycling and various meditations.) So imagine my surprise when I walk into my classroom and there is a shining overhead projector dangling from the ceiling. As soon as they plug it in, it will be used basically every day. I am going to re-distribute seating charts tomorrow, but I actually have a COMPUTER PROGRAM to do it for me and make a cute display with district-adoption-funded sound affects.
This has been my n00b teacher year, for sure. I laugh when I think how much smoother next year will be, but I groan when I think about something foolish I said today or realize something I forgot to do. Whatever. I can't let today get in the way tomorrow.
In a video game, you have to battle meanies in order to gain experience from the combat. You gotta keep fighting off clones and clones of the same few monsters, but it's worth it, for when you have earned enough XP, you will be extreme enough to win against the boss which moves the story along to bigger and more powerful bosses and treasure chests and princesses.
Not sure if this is a metaphor for teaching or just reminiscence. If you do a job or a task long enough, you have a chance to grow toward mastery. The number of times may have to be pretty significant to achieve something grand like the education of a child.
Scraping the ice off my windshield this morning, I thought about my life accomplishments. Such things should always be handled with consideration to their relativity. As we learn to be better teachers or whatever we do, we become better humans. Things that seemd big and tough and demanding before will someday be memories of struggle against worthy adversity.
This has been my n00b teacher year, for sure. I laugh when I think how much smoother next year will be, but I groan when I think about something foolish I said today or realize something I forgot to do. Whatever. I can't let today get in the way tomorrow.
In a video game, you have to battle meanies in order to gain experience from the combat. You gotta keep fighting off clones and clones of the same few monsters, but it's worth it, for when you have earned enough XP, you will be extreme enough to win against the boss which moves the story along to bigger and more powerful bosses and treasure chests and princesses.
Not sure if this is a metaphor for teaching or just reminiscence. If you do a job or a task long enough, you have a chance to grow toward mastery. The number of times may have to be pretty significant to achieve something grand like the education of a child.
Scraping the ice off my windshield this morning, I thought about my life accomplishments. Such things should always be handled with consideration to their relativity. As we learn to be better teachers or whatever we do, we become better humans. Things that seemd big and tough and demanding before will someday be memories of struggle against worthy adversity.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
How To Stay Healthy Enough To Do Your Job
This goes for teachers as well as the general population. It's foreshadowed when entering the field that your first year of teaching will be the most brutal to your physical and emotional health. What's worse, if teachers call in sick every time they don't feel well, the classroom loses valuable instruction time. Each time this year I had to go home sick, I came back the next day to find that I had to re-teach the lesson I'd left for the substitute and do a lot of back-tracking. Not to mention the email to catch up on! Here are some preventative measures to keep yourself healthy when facing a barrage of germs.
1. Wash your hands every day, every second that you can. If you see a sink and soap, get yer hands wet and sudsy. I don't believe that hand sanitizers do much alone, but washing my hands before eating or touching my face has saved me countless colds and influenza.
2. Most teachers have their personal favorite vitamin or mineral supplement to boost immunity. Mine is plain old Vitamin C. The highly-acclaimed Airborne and Emergen-C work, but so do two or more tablets of 500 mg Vitamin C every day. You can also drink orange or cranberry juice in high doses with no ill effects. Beware sugar commonly used to make the vitamins tastier. Your body will tell you when you have had too much because it will simply exit next time you go to the bathroom. Perfectly safe, cheap, and easy to remember.
3. In America we have a pill form of all medication. In Europe it's common to have an herbal tea. India gives us another way to deal with irritated sinuses: a Neti pot. I bought a Sinu Cleanse system, and it's just a plastic pot with packets of salt & baking soda. The design makes it easy to pour through one nostril, and once you figure out how to let gravity do the work, it feels quite soothing to clear the sinuses with water. I think this is the best way to clear up a stuffy nose.
4. Haven't tried this tip yet, but I heard from my stepmother that it protects you from airborne germs. Put a bit of Neosporin on your finger in the morning and smooth it on the inside of each nostril. Can't hurt right?
5. The rest is just common sense. Eat right. Be very careful about alcohol consumption, because it can knock your immunity down in one night. If you smoke, quit. Get fresh air but protect yourself from bitter cold. Sleep when you're tired, leave work early once in a while, and know that it's okay to distance yourself from others when you work in close proximity with sick people. We all carry germs, and they are expert at getting around from body to body. Just protect yourself and again: WASH YOUR HANDS!
1. Wash your hands every day, every second that you can. If you see a sink and soap, get yer hands wet and sudsy. I don't believe that hand sanitizers do much alone, but washing my hands before eating or touching my face has saved me countless colds and influenza.
2. Most teachers have their personal favorite vitamin or mineral supplement to boost immunity. Mine is plain old Vitamin C. The highly-acclaimed Airborne and Emergen-C work, but so do two or more tablets of 500 mg Vitamin C every day. You can also drink orange or cranberry juice in high doses with no ill effects. Beware sugar commonly used to make the vitamins tastier. Your body will tell you when you have had too much because it will simply exit next time you go to the bathroom. Perfectly safe, cheap, and easy to remember.
3. In America we have a pill form of all medication. In Europe it's common to have an herbal tea. India gives us another way to deal with irritated sinuses: a Neti pot. I bought a Sinu Cleanse system, and it's just a plastic pot with packets of salt & baking soda. The design makes it easy to pour through one nostril, and once you figure out how to let gravity do the work, it feels quite soothing to clear the sinuses with water. I think this is the best way to clear up a stuffy nose.
4. Haven't tried this tip yet, but I heard from my stepmother that it protects you from airborne germs. Put a bit of Neosporin on your finger in the morning and smooth it on the inside of each nostril. Can't hurt right?
5. The rest is just common sense. Eat right. Be very careful about alcohol consumption, because it can knock your immunity down in one night. If you smoke, quit. Get fresh air but protect yourself from bitter cold. Sleep when you're tired, leave work early once in a while, and know that it's okay to distance yourself from others when you work in close proximity with sick people. We all carry germs, and they are expert at getting around from body to body. Just protect yourself and again: WASH YOUR HANDS!
Saturday, March 06, 2010
My Next Year Teaching
Teachers tend to resort to optimism when the crossover is happening.
We are moving into the fourth quarter of the year, and it is all happening so quickly. I've been training my teacher-brain with hands-on experience for eight months. My worst fears about the first day of school are pretty far behind me. Instead of anxiety I feel nostalgia. I gave surveys yesterday to all classes for ideas of how to change my class for next year. Got some very honest responses. I will mix those in between some reflections or tidbits of advice that have sustained long enough to make it to this first entry of my new teaching blog.
- READ TO THEM. From good books. Even if they say it is boring. Because:
- They are always listening, always watching. Some topics are so sensitive, you can't avoid talking about them because to ignore another human being's experience is to perpetuate suffering. I used to kind of smirk and sigh "Oh, John Dewey," about the buzzword "teachable moments," but they constantly exist. Socialization and thinking skills are imbedded in a hidden curriculum in every classroom. Who will be around to act as guide in those moments when life itself is the education?
- This job is really hard.
- Speaking of social skills, kids love to work together. They love to correct each other's mistakes, politely of course and in the name of learning. They get a lot out of seeing each other perform tasks reliably. And most would like to be friends and colleagues but most are not that organized. So we play games that basically force them to learn and that works and we have fun.
- You have got to be organized, teacher. Hopefully as my school transitions into using an online client for all record-keeping and inter-communication, my job will only get easier. I have to have my procedures organized as well as my physical space. Gotta start buying a different lesson plan book because most of my info is on flash drive.
- Computers help but also hinder my work. The kids don't all have a computer so we have to do a lot of things on worksheets. Kids break and lose everything so it gets expensive. They light up when you tell them they get to type in class. They don't know how to do simple things like save or format a document, though I think they could learn. I still don't have a digital overhead projector in my classroom.
- Sometimes I do things "my way" and nobody complains so we just keep on trucking.
- The roller coaster ride gets much easier when you get your sea legs. Some days the emotional assault isn't even real, some days it is and it comes from a very distant and bizarre place outside of the school walls and you just have to brace yourself and respond with dignity.
- It was Dr. Seuss's birthday this week.
- Let them write.
We are moving into the fourth quarter of the year, and it is all happening so quickly. I've been training my teacher-brain with hands-on experience for eight months. My worst fears about the first day of school are pretty far behind me. Instead of anxiety I feel nostalgia. I gave surveys yesterday to all classes for ideas of how to change my class for next year. Got some very honest responses. I will mix those in between some reflections or tidbits of advice that have sustained long enough to make it to this first entry of my new teaching blog.
- READ TO THEM. From good books. Even if they say it is boring. Because:
- They are always listening, always watching. Some topics are so sensitive, you can't avoid talking about them because to ignore another human being's experience is to perpetuate suffering. I used to kind of smirk and sigh "Oh, John Dewey," about the buzzword "teachable moments," but they constantly exist. Socialization and thinking skills are imbedded in a hidden curriculum in every classroom. Who will be around to act as guide in those moments when life itself is the education?
- This job is really hard.
- Speaking of social skills, kids love to work together. They love to correct each other's mistakes, politely of course and in the name of learning. They get a lot out of seeing each other perform tasks reliably. And most would like to be friends and colleagues but most are not that organized. So we play games that basically force them to learn and that works and we have fun.
- You have got to be organized, teacher. Hopefully as my school transitions into using an online client for all record-keeping and inter-communication, my job will only get easier. I have to have my procedures organized as well as my physical space. Gotta start buying a different lesson plan book because most of my info is on flash drive.
- Computers help but also hinder my work. The kids don't all have a computer so we have to do a lot of things on worksheets. Kids break and lose everything so it gets expensive. They light up when you tell them they get to type in class. They don't know how to do simple things like save or format a document, though I think they could learn. I still don't have a digital overhead projector in my classroom.
- Sometimes I do things "my way" and nobody complains so we just keep on trucking.
- The roller coaster ride gets much easier when you get your sea legs. Some days the emotional assault isn't even real, some days it is and it comes from a very distant and bizarre place outside of the school walls and you just have to brace yourself and respond with dignity.
- It was Dr. Seuss's birthday this week.
- Let them write.
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