Journey to Dictionopolis

End of year two

2011-05-25T21:12:00.003-05:00

Just today I re-opened this blog because the school year is officially over. Before today, I felt that it was unprofessional of me to write about the place I worked in an online blog. I am leaving behind my position at the middle school, however, so that fear is vanquished. My room's almost cleaned out. I am exhausted.

Among other reasons for resigning, I want to explore my other career options and get some of my life back now. I also feel that I am being a quitter. I could have chosen to stay another year (or two, or whatever). Settle down here. Save up some money and just chalk it up to experience.

But that's not being fair to myself. I didn't fail at this job; I am not incompetent. There's no need to worry about walking away from another school year. I keep telling myself that.

What will happen next? Who knows. I am feeling it out the best I can. Right now part of me has fears about the future. Another part of me senses an opportunity to come alive. I can do anything, as I could all along, if only I choose.

2011-03-04T13:30:00.003-06:00

“It’s high time you were shown, that you really don’t know all there is to be known.”

-Dr. Seuss

I am going to lock this teacher blog down. I have been warned enough times about writing about school. I am considering a separate blog for other topics, or I might just use a different space to write until I quit my job.

professional appearance

2010-12-06T19:09:00.004-06:00

I receive feedback a couple of times per year about my professional appearance. It somehow factors into my professional personality. I understand the operation I work for and that they must keep the teachers bathed, clothed, and presentable.
My wardrobe isn't as classy as some: my clothing choice each day comes down to comfort. Whatever is clean, I wear. I have heard that you should always dress for the job you wish to have.

Well, I guess the job I want is to feel how I want. I'm letting my hair grow slowly into dreadlocks. I combed it into sections and now wash it and dry it carefully without combing. So far I still have bangs and straight hair framing my face. The back is knotting up and looks like wavy, uncombed long strands.

I like it so far: I have some body to my hair and it's still soft. But it's beginning the awkward stages of baby locks. Very fuzzy. The kids have been asking about it. I like answering their questions.

I dunno exactly what the hairs will look like until they arrive :) I am excited and have been waiting forever to do this.

I do worry, however, that I might get negative comments from other adults I work with and respect. I shouldn't care what others think, so I will try to stay positive.

rough

2010-11-30T16:41:00.002-06:00

I am having a rough time! No matter how good I am at my job, I am certainly tired of it. I have to be honest. My second year is making me want to take a break from teaching and do something else entirely. I will spare the complaints.

friendly observation

2010-11-10T19:20:00.005-06:00

Observation can never be neutral. I was sitting in the back of someone's class taking notes while I observed her teaching; I wasn't there to judge, but of course I was comparing myself to her. We are both second-year teachers; though, my students are a year younger than hers. I can say mine are more well-behaved than hers.

I noticed how insecure the kids felt. They didn't answer questions and they teased each other frequently. I was pretty miserable and bored myself sitting through the short classes. The clowns just wanted to get sent to the suspension room, and usually they got to go. It must be fun in there.

That school was in a really rough neighborhood that was the site of a gang-related shooting last year. I imagine the kids just come to school to be safe, make friends, and make it through.

My students seem less troubled, but I don't think they realize that. The kids I know don't always meet my expectations, but I am not going to lower them one bit. I am glad all those kids have a teacher who cares and challenges them.

Gradebook is Empty

2010-11-01T19:05:00.003-05:00

Yes. I have two different piles of homework to grade. One test. One essay from Writing assessments. But I had a great day! My lesson today consisted of a powerpoint (informational) and a class discussion (knowledge-building). My class discussed the fact that the United States is 5% of the World's population, yet we use 25% of the oil consumed. The kids were shocked to find that nothing in the room around them was made without oil. Even their very bodies - fed from food shipped and produced with oil energy. I didn't mean to scare any of them, but we all had some serious criticism of the American lifestyle. Their suggested solutions to major world problems were admirable, but inconsequential. I got them thinking, and I loved the sight of it.

Tomorrow, however, I'm not sure what we'll work on. We burned through two days' worth of assignments in one class period. Tomorrow I need to either give them a new article to read, or do vocab practice and summary skills.

I am not sure why they asked us to give a writing assessment and then not provide time to grade it. I am struggling right now with communication between my coteacher and I. Without blaming her, the truth is that I am taking on all the work myself. Even my vice principal has ordered me to put her to work. In her words, "you have two highly-paid professionals in your room: get them working with the kids."

Today we did parallel teaching. I liked that I got to hear from every student in my small group. I disliked that we ended up in different spots when we got back together. Instead of giving the rest of the worksheet as homework to the group that was behind, I just said "we'll go over it tomorrow." So, I intend to have the kids teach each other what they learned in small group. Haha! Less work for me.

Now I gotta go grade these papers *grumble*

Parent Teacher Conferences

2010-10-20T22:31:00.002-05:00

I just got home a few hours ago from our Fall P/T/S conference. I saw quite a few students and some parents I had wanted to talk to. This year I was more relaxed than my first conference. I just feel better, although I am extremely worn out and will probably stay up past my bedtime. I need some me-time that I didn't get during our school frenzy.

The Year in Full Swing

2010-10-02T09:09:00.003-05:00

Last year at our "Mentoring and Induction" meetings for new teachers, a chart was shared with me of the rising and falling anxiety during one's first year. I can still feel those vibrations now in my second year.
Basically, the beginning of the year is mostly anticipation and settling into a routine. As the year progresses and dynamics emerge, teachers get worn down. Conferences usually result in physical debility. Insecurities fester if the work environment is hostile or uncertain.
By midyear, many teachers are at their worst: downright depressed. The first semester goes by in the blink of an eye, and second semester promises state assessment. I find it challenging to keep kids from believing they are what they bring home on their grade card. By second semester some have invariably failed, "been left behind."
The end of the year is just as exhausting, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. May is pretty good. Your assessments are over and you just get to enjoy the last month of teaching.

The reason I had mentor and induction in quotation marks, is that these programs are a facade. The state now requires new teachers to be placed with a mentor and receive training, but in my experience, most districts do not use this opportunity to make new teachers more effective. We get placed with a mentor who herself is overworked and laden down with job responsibilities. We are hardly afforded the chance to form learning communities, even in middle school, which calls for integrated learning experience!

This is not a post of complaint, though. There is no one to blame. We teachers are left to figure this out on our own: how to achieve the school's goals when there is no time or support to do so. Carrying that load alone, too many kids fall through the cracks. And teachers, too.

Next post may be about cooperative learning. My school is enforcing it as a necessity to middle school learning. I enjoy using it but can't implement it without a lot of support. Honestly, I sometimes wonder if high school teaching demands less of my instruction style.

Today I'm looking into programs to fund my masters degree in education. Not so much because I want to teach forever, but because I feel pressure to finish my degree and make more long-term career decisions. Found a state service scholarship and now just need to contact my advisor and see what can be done. Whoopee! I might be going back to school.

Real-world-beyond-college lesson planning

2010-09-19T09:24:00.008-05:00

Another month has gone by without so much as a visit to this blog. Where have I been? In my classroom, to be sure, and in front of a daunting array of three-ring binders. Lots of work accomplished. Still plenty to do. Noticing that I can always find a way to be busy.

I have at last developed a tentative syllabus for the first semester! My biggest barrier to doing this was reading all the text selections, so I got out the audio CD resources.

My basic formula is
- read 1 recommended text per week (five days of 80-minute block Reading/Language Arts)
- identify 2-3 basic literature concepts/benchmarks in the text (eg. plot, author's purpose, theme)
- review/practice 1 comprehension strategy (eg. text features, summarization)
- incorporate vocabulary (eg. context clues, word structure, prefix/suffix)
- Continue working on 1 writing assignment in writing workshop
- hit on everything and anything as soon as the teachable moment arrives
- about 20% of the time, get to know the kids and what they like. Read to them or do what other teachers do that looks fun. I saw the reading teacher doing a balloon toss and I am like hmm... this will work for me. I will make it work.

I've found that I have to merge the curriculum by myself and in my own style in order to prepare my students for their future. I arrange the readings in order by which concepts I am trying to connect, and then pull out the key skills kids need somehow (like vocabulary, identifying text features, understanding cause-effect) and try to hammer on those. Some kids, I realize, will barely recognize what the stories are about. Others, I hope, absorb everything we mention in class and file it in some kind of study machine in their brains! Every time we talk about it could be that first time it clicks for someone.

Sometimes I wish I taught math so that I could teach one topic at a time. Do this with these numbers = blammo. Correct or incorrect. But no, I have chosen to teach Language Arts. I work with reading(!), figurative language, creative writing, and parts of speech. If you think any of these things is straightforward, we need to talk.

Above all I need flexibility, and I know it is guarded dearly by most teachers. It's because some days, things are unpredictable. What I plan will take one day might take three. If we don't learn it the first time, we reteach.

Now to enjoy the rest of my Sunday.

p.s. I actually edited the title because a preposition it ended in!

Web Design Follow-Up

2010-08-01T21:31:00.003-05:00

Last week I decided to ditch ATutor because of its limited usability. I really wanted to implement a Moodle, because there are several teachers at my school who have and use these. For some reason, my webhost would not allow me to install the Moodle core build (too many files?!), and I couldn't find free Moodle hosting easily. So how did I move on? I implemented my first Drupal.

My significant other explained to me that the name Drupal signifies the way your files double, triple, quadruple, and so on as you adapt it to your needs. I was able to find many modules that will make my site successful. Now I'm past the installation phase (mostly) and I get to customize my web and add some content. It's exciting, especially to my inner geek, to tweak and improve the look and feel of my own web space.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, look at drupal.org (or just about any website that displays php) and see what this puppy can do. When I first uploaded my files, my site looked a lot like drupal.org: blue menus along the top, some blocks on the side, nothing fancy. I'm still working with the look, but right now I have picked out a nice theme and I'm trying to display things I think my students will need once I give them access to their own accounts.

I wish I could show off the site itself when it is finished, but I think it will be accessible only to registered users I have created to keep my kids safe. Might create a clone, a development drupal, to show off and experiment with.

More to come. So far: Drupal is a lot of work, but you get so much freedom, I can see why it is so powerful.

The First Day of School

2010-07-29T17:00:00.003-05:00

All over again! AHH! I am calling this the first day of school because I went in to a professional development workshop today, so I stopped in to see my room. I was allowed in the room I was told to move everything into, but I couldn't find any of my supplies. I looked all over for my boxes and mini fridge and found it across the hall. I told her I'd move it out the next day. That's when I talked to my assistant principal. Turns out we had made a whole new switch.

Goodbye, marker boards. Hello, chalk. Goodbye, wall of tiny windows. Hello, walls with no windows. I wish I hadn't moved at all, but I will get over it.

The workshop was about co-teaching. I learned a lot today, in fact:

- There are more than six methods of coteaching with another licensed teacher.
- If one person does all the teaching, and the other watches, something is wrong.
- Co-teachers must both be licensed teachers. Usually one has expertise in content and the other has expertise in special education strategies.
- Many teachers at my school have tried to coteach but weren't satisfied with their partner teacher's work.
- My school district will do anything researchers tell them to do in the interest of raising kids' performance on assessments.

and here's my daily lessons about being a new teacher:
- Never assume that plans you make will go unchanged.
- Never get upset over these fluctuations, because it ain't worth it.
- Say hi to the new people you don't know. This makes it easier to ask for favors later.
- Sometimes you have to say the wrong thing like four times before someone corrects you. That's when you thank them.

I brought home a copy of both textbooks and I have my scope and sequence handy. Time to sketch out some idea of where I want to take these kids this year! I am getting excited. My second year feels the way I wish my first had: I'm excited. I feel confident. I have great ideas. And most of all, I feel like I can handle this stress and momentary uncertainty. I actually have time to plan ahead, unlike last year. I know whom I can turn to for help, and whom I should avoid. There is no fanfare rally this year to welcome the teachers back, but I am going to make some noise for the sixth graders.

Already Switching CMS

2010-07-25T21:04:00.003-05:00

I have been trying out ATutor for a couple of days. Changing the course tools is difficult. Going to try Moodle instead, but first I have to find a web space provider with more room for MYSQL. May just customize a Drupal instead.

I usually just make plain HTML pages or wikis. Google sites. Simple coding. But this is like a customizable machine!

Techie Teacher

2010-07-21T14:54:00.006-05:00

Mid July. Time is ticking until back-to-school, and I have a lot of things to organize. I've used a lot of my vacation time to cultivate a garden and build up the homestead. Had time to check back in with my health, my family, and my social life.

Now, it's time to get back to work, and I am exploring different available technology to help me deliver the best lessons for my students. My learners need more than just a web site with daily assignments posted on it. What I am trying to create is an interactive media zone for my students to share and learn in. A database and forum system. Web links. Access to grades and tools.

Check back frequently: I will post my progress with different web-based media, all of it free and available to the public.

This is a bit of an adventure for a me, and I feel excited to try out things I dreamed of using during my first year teaching but never had time for. I'm going to keep track of a few things on this blog as I learn about working with technology designed to assist learners in the classroom.* Here are some of the free resources I'll be using.

000webhost.com - Free database and MYSQL hosting, perfect for starting a high-tech drupal or moodle.

ATutor - currently, the best content management system for teachers looking to customize their learner's online experience. Also called a LMS or Learning Management System. With this I can invite other colleagues of mine, or even students themselves, to host a course, a portion of my site, or just a forum discussion. I plan to also use this as a transitional tool to start my own distance education venture.

DrupalEd - another content management system for educators

Pearson Power School - This one is not free. My school has adopted PowerSchool, so I will be taking notes as I learn how to make my class accessible to my students and their parents. So far I've only calculated grades using the Power Teacher Grade Book. I would like to use live links to my own website to completely integrate my class and my records.

FileZilla - an indispensable FTP for uploading CMS and other files.

This blog on Blogger.com - free blogs for everyone!
*This Blogger is linked to my personal Gmail account, therefore I would like to keep all information about my school and my classes private. I might upload some sample lesson plans or sample info, but this is a decision I feel I need to make on behalf of professionalism and concern for student anonymity. I will probably share a different blog with my students; Journey to Dictionopolis is about my personal experiences in education.

More great free resources and reviews/tips/frustrations as they arise!

I'm a teacher but I'm still me

2010-06-26T16:58:00.007-05:00

One of the first things I did on my summer vacation was to drive out of town, visiting people and places. I had never been to Utah, so I went camping and hiking in the national parks there. It was refreshing to satisfy my wanderlust, and then afterwards I went to a family reunion in Arkansas and spent a lot of time with my father. Everyone asked about how my school year had been. I liked teaching 6th grade at my middle school. I'm enjoying the reactions to "What do you teach?" because people have such a variety of memories from their school days.

Now that I'm back home, and, I'll admit it, feeling bored, I have started thinking about how my identity as a human being has begun to align with my job or career identity. If nothing else, next year should feel more natural because I have confidence and familiarity with being the teacher. And I know myself better. I have grown.

When I began teaching for the first time, that teacher identity just hadn't fully formed yet. I'm still young for a teacher, yet I think this is true for both life and work: your development as an individual happens at its own pace. Every day that I live I try to learn from my mistakes. Spend some time appreciating myself and my abilities. Then I can go on to live up to my highest potential. Every day that I teach I am learning from mistakes, sometimes not made by me. But we have to play the cards we are dealt, as the saying goes. You grow by accepting what you have and making the most with the potential that is there.

So although last year I was a respectable teacher by all means, next year I will be more comfortable knowing who I am as part of the school and 6th grade team. For instance, I already know that the other teachers are professionals with various teaching styles different from mine. I know who to go to for help. I know how to do my grades and all the technical parts of the job.

But there's more. There's a personality of a real teacher forming. Someone kids count on as an adult who cares about their education. Someone who can draw the line when a student takes away from the learning of others. She also knows when to ease off and let a kid recover from a really bad day. She can make a boring lesson into a fun game and calm down the room after a security drill. She treats everyone in her class with the same respect. She plans ahead to keep everyone engaged. She expects perfection but gives second chances. Flexibility and consistency meet somewhere in the middle, but it's so confounding. I barely understand it. Somehow my own personal insanity makes me a more reliable teacher amidst a turbulent world. At the end of the day I just want school to be a better place to learn, naturally.

Questions to think about:
What's most important to me, as I continue to unwind from my first year? What should I anticipate as my biggest challenges? What kind of values do I hold, and are they always appropriate for the students I work with? Have some of my ideas about education and communities changed? What stays the same, what will I always believe in?

speaking of that drama

2010-05-19T17:12:00.004-05:00

I brought my friend, who is also a teacher, to help me pack the classroom and check out of my room. Turned in my keys. Everything had to be boxed due to painting, and I left the moving for later. We get some time in the fall to take care of the room changes. I get a different room, and like I said, will teach a different course in the new 7th grade team.

I don't know why it seems more stressful at the end of the year, but hearing about room and position changes caused SO MUCH DRAMA. Some of the teachers felt it was a personal attack to change the teams. I have never seen anything like it. Mistrust over a big misunderstanding.

The worst part of Drama is that it spreads. Gotta recognize it quickly so you can let it go.
Oh that's right. I am home for the summer. No worries.

Good job, teacher.

first year teaching: completed

2010-05-17T18:44:00.003-05:00

Let me tell you; I feel jubilant.

Plus one for me. Or plus a trillion. My last day was full of rocky bumps which further proved to me how much I've grown. We had an emergency situation and one student asked me "why are you so calm?" I should have said, "because I know it'll be all right," but I just said "I'm making sure everyone else stays calm."

This being the last day, I tried to keep them busy by asking them to help me move stuff out of the room and into storage in the lockers outside. That was awesome, free manual labor. Something I will always remember about sixth grade is the chorus of "me! me! me!" if I ask for volunteers without instructing them to raise a hand.

I say "always remember" because I was told this morning that I might be teaching seventh grade next year. If so, I will teach the same kids for a second year, which I postulated about in an earlier post. Now it might happen. I think several teachers are really upset with the situation, and are trying to have it reversed. Strange entities begin to form when changes happen. Groups, unions, teams, coalitions, panels, boards, what? What about the communities? The patrons and employees of the school have only part of the voice of their school. The rest belongs to administration or supervisors. In many ways, teaching is just like any job.

At least I felt really good about fulfilling my contract. I casually noticed some of the kids' letters to (whom were going to be) my new sixth graders next year. The ones that said I was their favorite teacher really choked me up, so I'll read them tomorrow when I'm all alone in my empty room.

JK I ain't gonna cry! Now, two days to pack up and enter grades. How do I say goodbye to the teachers? I'll have to do it and stay out of the drama at the same time. :P

FREEEDOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!

Celebrate

2010-05-13T21:42:00.003-05:00

In my kitchen is a 2-gallon size freezer bag full of homemade trail mix. Rice chex, pretzels, raisins, peanuts, and about a pound of blue m&m's. I tracked down the "blue ones" in the mall because that's what the characters in our book ate. If somebody can't eat nuts I have just plain corn chips.

Tomorrow I will have my students check their study guides, ask questions about the final, and celebrate what we have learned this year. I've never been the teacher on the last day, but I imagine it will feel like most any other day. I still have to pack up my room but am planning to just tear everything down and sort it on our staff day without 6th graders. I will save the treats and the games for the last 15 minutes. And then my week is done.

Monday we are supposed to have finals. I have learned a lot this year that can't be tested and I know the same is true about the kids. I'm giving them a novel test and asking them to write a letter to next year's students. I have felt emotional about this day for a while, but now I feel less anxious. I look forward to ending the year smoothly and with warm feelings. Asking the kids what they will do this summer was a brilliant idea today, because with only two full days left, no one can ignore that vacation is here.

But I have to GO

2010-05-10T20:12:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I have to follow through with a threat just on principle. Today I wrote a discipline referral because a student walked out of my class to go to the bathroom. It normally wouldn't come to that because I would let them go pretty freely in the past. Two weeks ago I enforced a no-passes rule in my 7th hour because I felt it was being abused (at least ten students would want to go each day. I let it go on a lot longer than it should have.) So today someone tested that and asked me to go after class had started.

I feel a bit like a hypocrite because since the rule went into effect, I have made small concessions like letting them "take a tardy" to rush out at the beginning of class. They don't go before my class because they don't want to be late, but they think I will always allow them to go.

Also, note to kids: arguing about it makes it worse. If she had talked to me about her problem privately, respected my rules, and still had to rush out to pee, then I still should have followed through with a school policy. No student leaves without permission.

Next year I may charge for a bathroom visit. Owe time after school? One tardy and one freebie? There are a lot of ways to handle this. At the end of the school year it's hard to redo the rules and procedures in your classroom. I find my demeanor becoming stricter because I didn't design my classroom management to be airtight in the first place. With five days left to go, I have so much miscellaneous business to take care of. I am trying to give the kids a rewarding experience, but they come to school pretty much uninterested in anything but saying goodbye to their friends. I want to give them time for that sort of thing. Time to plan my celebration day.

Changes Fast

2010-05-03T17:05:00.003-05:00

My coworkers have been hinting that, for the last two weeks of school, kids would try to get away with breaking the rules, and the administration would start asking students not to return to finish the year.

I think a more accurate description of this must mention that our senses are heightened. We've been operating at full throttle for months now, and we are weeding out kids who are failing and not following reasonable social conventions. One of my students has ended his year today. I didn't know this at first. I found out after I stood in the office with the suspended student and told him that, yes, he could make his final project using whatever materials he could find. And that I'd accept extra credit if he could really blow me away with the project. And as much as I was like "he will never do this" in the back of my mind, the thought that he would at least consider doing something for my class makes me smile.

Anyway, he's gone, so I'm going to focus my energies where they are best applied: to the kids under my charge until May 17th. I have planned to read a book and host literature-circle activities around it for the next 10 days. We are solving a mystery together and it's fascinating to hear the students' theories. Blue Balliet was right: kids are able to form patterns and theories with more skill and creativity than you can fathom.

So much is going to change next year. Things floating around in my head, I could fret about them all day. I'd rather write 'em down and let it be what it is: my hours split into two schools (it gets better), larger class sizes, six classes instead of five, collaborative transition into two teachers of ENGLISH 6 which combines Reading 6 & Language Arts 6, new national standards, new standardized tests, new coworkers (principal, team leader, special ed support). It's hard to say if I want to charge back into next school year because it will not even be the same job - not to mention the kids. Next year's sixth graders are numerous and opinionated. I know; I met some of them at open house. I made them hula hoop and some of them are naturals.

around the 20 day mark

2010-04-14T22:00:00.004-05:00

In a room I usually don't have to go in, I heard two sixth-grade teachers say, "Those kids will sure get it when the 7th grade teachers get ahold of them!" I know some days are challenging, but I don't want the kids to graduate up. I wish we had looping, sometimes, so that I could work with the same bunch more than one year. We might get to know each other well enough to find ways to make all the kids successful.

I heard another teacher saying about her pre-schoolers, "I am not ready for a new bunch. I just now feel like they are prepared." How wonderful.

First thing, every class, I have my students do a quick assignment at the bell. We have about 20 of these left, so I'm trying to make them count. Today I had them match 5 punctuation symbols to their names. Tomorrow I am throwing a math problem in there just to mess with them! Haha!

Get By With a Little Help

2010-03-30T17:29:00.003-05:00

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!

re- commendation

2010-03-26T18:25:00.005-05:00

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 :)

The Coolest Kids In School

2010-03-24T16:17:00.004-05:00

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!

Gaining Experience Points

2010-03-22T19:23:00.008-05:00

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.

How To Stay Healthy Enough To Do Your Job

2010-03-07T19:55:00.000-06:00

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!

My Next Year Teaching

2010-03-06T10:37:00.000-06:00

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.