Writing about my time at school without students feels so difficult because all of the juicy stuff has happened the last couple of days with the kids' arrival. I might just being saying this because I had a particularly nice day at school, but I might prefer days at school with students to days at school without students. I'll retract that statement tomorrow, I'm sure. But right now, it feels true.
Starting off year 3 is basically picking right back up where I left off. I feel 100% comfortable with the kids, have no problems telling them what to do, disciplining them, joking around, or interacting with them. The great thing about teaching grades 9-12 is that after being here a few years I know so many kids that I know about half of my students before the year even starts. Coaching helps a lot with that too. The main difference between now and where I was 2 years ago is that a new teacher is nervous and the kids are on the attack, but a veteran teacher is on the attack and the kids are nervous. It was really funny to notice this year how sheepish and nervous a lot of my kids were.
As usual, the first day consisted of a lot of holding homeroom, which sucked less than in the past, but still sucked. My homeroom kids aren't as awful as they were either of the last 2 years, but they're still there and there are some big mouths in there. So on day 1 I only got to see 4th through 7th periods, and I missed my planning period. Overall it was definitely my best first day. I just went over rules, memorized almost every name within the first day, got kids involved, and I enjoyed it.
The only hiccup in the day was 4th period Physical Science, where I have some kids coming back for the THIRD time, and some more trying for the second time. There are some major jackasses in there. The worst one (by the end of last year he wasn't even allowed in the door) came in acting a fool immediately. I had to yell at him, get him to go back out into the hall, and then he started rolling around on the floor. I went ahead and chewed him out and told him that I wasn't putting up with any of that crap this year. I let him in and after not even 5 minutes I had already given him a writing assignment and almost had to paddle him. This is the first 5 minutes of the first real class of the year. He actually wanted me to paddle him instead of doing the writing assignments (he worked his way up to 2), but I made him do them. Today he earned two more and 3 other students in there also got them. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm paddling in there tomorrow. I've got a handful of kids capable of ruining that whole class, but hopefully some of them will work their way into a GED program or alternative school.
The other classes are typical. The kids with all the bad reps that were on my role are the thuggish males who don't really disrupt class and cause problems, they just fight a lot. I have some hyperactive sophomores 7th period that will probably be my worst problem, just because it's 7th period. All in all, the first 2 days were a thing of beauty. 178 more to go.
Okay so I had a adventurous, movie-like day. Let's start at the beginning. At some point this morning my lights went out, and I lost track of time. Because of this, I was running, not late but hurried. I had twenty minutes do get to work. Plenty of time for my fifteen minute drive. I locked up my apartment and loaded thing in my car. Then a closed the car door with my keys in it. I was locked out. At this exact time, Michele, a second year, came rolling down the street with her lunch on the roof of her car. Got Lunch? At this point, I am not so panicking as in utter disbelief that this could be happening to me TODAY of all days. Anyway, although Michele presented some much needed comical relief she wasn't much help, and left to go to work after I handed her her lunch.
Not to worry, I am a college graduate and a critical thinker. I can figure this out. I had twenty minutes, and the clock was ticking. What to do? How was I going to get into my car? I do have another set of car keys, but they were in my apartment which I had already locked. Luckily, I had left my window cracked from the previous day. Thank you, Rosei. Now all I needed was a wire hanger or something else that I could use to open the door. Across the street there was a pile of branches; maybe that would work. So I ran across the street and got a few branches and brought them back to try. On try three I managed to unlock my car; I was finally in. VICTORIOUS! I now had thirteen minutes to get to school. I quickly jumped into my car and sped safely (oxymoron, I know) to work. I got work with two minutes spare. Yea for me!
Now, to the actual school day. I had a great first day of teaching. Objective: The students will practice rules and procedures, and we did. Homeroom/1st period lasted almost 3 hours. Lunch/5th period was so long, maybe 2 hours. Side Note: I really like my 5th period class. I only have 6 students. It's so nice. My other classes ran smoothly. I know the first day/week is the time when the students are on their best behavior, but I have to say my student were great. At least until the end of the day they got a little restless. 7th period winded up be an hour and a half; it is supposed to be 52 minutes. I actually had to give out a couple of writing assignments. All day the students in my class sat in their seats quietly, did what I asked them to do, and listened to me. It went well. I expect and hope for the same tomorrow, but I am prepared for the worst. Until then...
Training? What training? I unfortunately was not able to participate in the professional days. However, I was able to go to the district meeting, welcoming new teachers, last Thursday. But besides that we were not allowed to go to the much important meetings. We weren't even allowed to go into our rooms and hang poster. We weren't allowed to do anything. My school district had a recent switch of superintendents so they were unable to hold a board meeting until the day before classes started (today). I would have liked to go to training, but I guess I will get that information later. Luckily they were able to meet otherwise they would have had several teachers in the district not reporting to school. Anyway so today was my first day. And again, luckily I had set up my desks and cleaned my room prior to being BANNED from the premises. Luck, luck luck, read my next blog for my first day adventure. Until then...
So John McCain has an ad comparing Barack Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. And now there is this, McCain's latest:
I figured I'd get this out of the way before the students came tomorrow and blew my ideas out of the water.
So far, the people have been wonderful, extremely helpful and giving. I love them.
The administration has done the best they can, probably because I keep plugging away at them until I get what I want. I do it in a really nice, sweet way, but what I need is what I need and I can't help but get a little antsy when I don't even have a computer assigned to me, so there's no way I can use the Mimio board I worked so hard to get. I grow to dislike the teacher before me more and more each day. She never even tried to get these things that are so vital to teaching Spanish well! She disliked the books I'm using as much as I do, but she never did anything about it or gave input into the curriculum! Honestamente!
But my classroom looks awesome and is prepared and well organized.
See how nice and empty the classroom is without students? It's so pretty and clean. If only the students wouldn't come and mess it all up. ;D
Wish me luck tomorrow! All of you, Good Luck!! We'll be great, I know it.
1. Hope is not a plausible course of action, and students who act out on the first day will not get better if left alone. Prompt, sustained action will cause some of them to change by Thanksgiving. Others will not come around no matter what, but you have to try everything before you can say that.
2. Pace yourself. August is long. September is longer. By the end of October, Thanksgiving break seems about 8 years away.
3. Don't be afraid to depart from your lesson plan. If your students come to you one day as a bunch of left feet, and your lesson plan is a right shoe, nobody will have fun if you insist on imposing the lesson plan on them. It is much more important to show up with a plan than to follow the plan.
4. Your students will teach you far more about teaching than all other sources combined. Early on, I was so afraid of my students trying to take over my classroom (and there was a fair amount of that happening) that I disregarded a lot of excellent input, sometimes even reprimanding students for trying to help me.
