In the school I teach, we have more than our fair share of disrespectful little monsters, but at the same time we have more than our fair share of upstanding, mature, kind-hearted, good kids.
In the school I teach, we have more than our fair share of disrespectful little monsters, but at the same time we have more than our fair share of upstanding, mature, kind-hearted, good kids.
For me it boils down to the lives you can touch and the lives that touch you. Sure there are a host of benefits such as teacher certification, masters degree, and student loan assistance as well as others. But these are all inferior to the internal rewards you receive when you can impact a kid on an academic or personal level. Watching kids utilize knowledge you helped them acquire, or being a shoulder for an upset student to cry on, or simply modeling good social skills are all part of the rewards.
Another reason that someone should join is the inner strength and confidence you gradually attain. Teaching in a critical needs district will likely be the most difficult task a participant will take on, as you are essentially thrown into the fire. (You can think of it as someone who doesn't know how to swim being thrown into the water, and trying any and everything to stay afloat.)The things to expect:
You will be tested,
you will have late nights,
you will struggle,
you will contemplate what you're doing,
you will doubt that you will ever be a good teacher,
you will find patience you didn't know you had,
you will find strength you didn't know you had,
you will find wisdom, courage, hope, and joy,
you will find success(although it may seem minimal),
you will affect lives(though only a few),
others will affect your life,
you will love your MTC classmates and faculty,
you will come out a better teacher and person in the end.
A reflection of my first semester of teaching:
This is a really refreshing exercise because I feel that I haven't had a moment to reflect on ANYTHING all semester.
Don't get me wrong as I love teaching(half of my classes/half of the time), I just am so overwhelmed by the massive amount of WORK that I rarely have time to think or reflect on anything. This has probably been the fastest 5 months of my entire life and most of my days/weeks I am just trying to survive. I rarely get more than 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night usually slightly more than 4. This has slightly to do with trying to be as involved a father as I can to my daughter, as well as tutoring my wife in some of her college classes, but most of it has to do with preparing three different lessons every day plus keep up with grading, discipline logs, etc.. . I usually don't think really, I am more like an overworked robot on auto-pilot. I simply just react, moving from one task to the next, never really thinking, just doing.
My typical school day looks like this.
6:30 -730 am (wake-up, drive to school, make copies, prepare room)
7:30-300 pm(teach)
3-3:30pm(tutoring/room clean up)
3:30-4( drive home)
4-4:30pm(eat/ check email)
4:30-7pm(play with daughter, tutor wife, grade papers)
7-8 pm(give daughter bath and read story)
8-1 am(read Physical science/chemistry 2/ chemistry 1 sections in book and type out guided reading questions for the students/ contemplate possible demonstrations to instill concepts/ print lesson plans)
1am(sleep)
I really just move from one thing to the next, complete one task just to move to another. I honestly will go more than a week at a time without watching tv, or doing anything relaxing(there just isn't time).
I feel I have whined enough about this so I'll talk about the kids. Some of them I just love to death, showing such great maturity politeness, integrity and respect. Most of these(not all) are also my higher achievers in the classroom. I then have my large group of students who are okay most of the time(some good days some bad), then I have my 2 classes of monsters. This includes my 1st and 7th period classes, which are my largest 2 classes which are also many of my older students. These kids are rude, disrespectful, mean to one another, and have the audacity to say things to me that I never would have dreamed of saying to a teacher.
I dread these 2 classes every day, and they are the only reasons I don't love teaching right now, I feel like everyday I'm with them(1st and 7th period) I am developing a stomach ulcer with stress. I'm just lucky that some of my other classes are filled with great kids which makes my days more manageable.
Overall although this has been difficult, I do feel very blessed. I do like my school, I like the kids(most of them), I like the people I work with, my administrators support me, and I love Ole Miss(my classmates and my professors). Byhalia High School really has a lot of good things going for it I think and I feel lucky that I was placed there(although the school does need a lot of work).
My kids are from tough situations but many of them do have a lot of potential and I hope I am having some form of positive influence on them. I know I am nowhere near a good teacher right now and having 3 preps has furthered my deficiencies. I have been good about saving my work and lesson plans however, so I think that will cut down on my work load. That way next year I can spend time on actually reflecting and making my lessons better, instead of struggling maddeningly until the early morning just trying to complete them.
Gotta go to bed. Things are getting better so let's hope that trend continues.
Success has been hard to come by in my first year. I just feel so overwhelmed/burned out with my 3 preps every day(15 lessons per week), I know Liz is dealing with these same issues and has voiced them much more eloquently then I ever could(Courtney, I simply don't know how you do it.). I feel only one of my classes are genuinely successful right now(for some reason that I have been unable to decipher, they actually listen to me, participate, show respect, and for the most part seem like they are learning), while my other 5 classes seem like I'm either babysitting(2nd, 4th, and 5th periods; or pulling my hair out in frustration, 1st and 7th).
... is being more strict and consistent in levying out consequences. I have rules in place but in 4 of my 6 classes I doubt if anyone even remembers them anymore because I let people off the hook so often(at least for the small stuff such as up out of their seats without asking or talking while I'm talking). I hand out too many warnings before I give out actual consequences(writing assignments, detentions, referrals) which has led to daily subtle(and sometimes not so subtle) disrespect in 1st and 7th periods and moderate/severe unproductivity in 4th and 5th period.(2nd and 3rd period are aberrations because the kids all seem to be angels from heaven to make my 1st year manageable).
SO far making the transition as a first year teacher has been a difficult task. But I can at least see the light at the end of the tunnel(meaning that for the first time this year I see hope that I will one day pass off as a good teacher; or at least a decent one). I finally have gotten to the point with 2 classes where most everyday we are at least somewhat productive and the students are actively involved. My second period(chem 2) and 3rd period(Physical Science) classes are fantastic. The kids are wonderful, respectful, attentive, and work oriented. It's just a real pleasure dealing with them everyday as I know I don't deserve it being still the very below average teacher that I am. My other classes are still a stress filled headache but I've had a tremendous mentor to look up to and console me at my school.
In analyzing my classroom management plan from the beginning of the schoolyear I realize that I have definitely changed some things, but perhaps not as much as I should have.
Let's begin with my classroom management philosophy, which from the summer read something like this, "Classroom Management is the process by which a teacher creates a safe, controlled, positive environment where discovery and learning are at a premium. This is done through the use of rules, consequences and procedures that effectively diffuse misbehavior while encouraging and facilitating behaviors consistent with a positive learning environment."
While I agree wholeheartedly with this I am still aiming for the positive environment part, I am focusing a lot more on the control part of that plan.
My rules at the beginning of the summer were as follows:
-No talking when I'm talking
-Keep hands, feet, and other objects to yourself
-Stay in your seat unless given permission to do otherwise
-Be respectful of other students, the teacher, and yourself
-Use appropriate language
Thus far my rules have remained the same as there is no need to change as they are all essential for a positive, productive classroom. I have however added 2 new rules.
1)follow directions the first time they are given
2)speak only when given permission by Mr. McClish
In my opinion there are no problems with my rules, only with my consequences which I've had to adjust slightly throughout the semester. My consequences listed at the beginning of the school year were:
-Warning
-One page writing assignment relating to offense
-Detention
-Phone call/letter home to parents
-office referral
Things that haven't worked:
-phone call/letter home(difficulty contacting parents; the phone numbers are either disconnected or to a distant relative who says "he/she don't stay here no mo"
-detention(the after school variety don't work because the kids won't show up, they always "forget"(ha))
New things I've tried with some success
-break detention(the kids hate this and it's not that hard to enforce because i've been a little better about being consistent)-thank Lisa Booth for this idea!!
-last to leave the class(kids are usually frustrated by this but seems to be helping a little)
Rewards:
-As far as my reward system goes, tickets have worked well(my kids are always asking for them, and it definitely works well for my 3rd and 4th period classes), I just need to be more consistent in rewarding my good students and volunteers with tickets.
-I've given phone calls home and it thrills the parents but I need to do a lot more of this.
-I've also started a student of the month poster with the first winner coming up this month so hopefully that will get the kids excited.
-I do not give 5 free minutes of class time for good behavior(I think this is a horrible idea and don't know what I was thinking at the beginning of the summer).
Procedures:
-2 bathroom passes(this stayed the same and has worked ok.)
-beginning of class(is disorderly, about half the class is working on their bellwork while the other half is either up out of their seats or talking with there neighbor, this is slowly improving through being more strict and tickets)
-make-up work(they are supposed to check the make-up folder, but they never do. 95% of my absent students don't ask for their make-up and those who do just raise their hands and we have a private talk)
-class dismissal is usually a bit of a mess because I only get an actual closure every once in a while because I let classwork go to the bell too often".
Overall I have 2 great classes(2nd and 3rd), and 4 that need serious work. I have however been a little more strict and consistent in my consequences so I have seen some improvement( hoping to have smooth running classes by christmas)
I thoroughly enjoyed Ruby Payne's book, "A Framework for understanding poverty". I can't say that it is perfect as it's filled with a lot of generalizations, but when you're covering such a large idea and so much information it's hard not to generalize at least a little bit.
I read Liz' blog topic "come on Thanksgiving" and I couldn't agree any more. Day in and day out there is a tremendous amount of work that I simply never considered. First of all, I have 3 preps so I have to create 15 different lesson plans every single week. Each lesson plan from researching the topic, to planning the lesson, and finally creating materials and worksheets for that lesson takes at minimum 1 hour(most of the time much more). So this puts me at a minimum of 55 hours per week. Then I have to grade assignments, as well as design assignments to help catch up my students at the ALC(alternative learning center). This takes up another 5- 10 hours a week. So it comes to the point where I am working 60-65 hours a week and I don't have time to take care of some very important issues(management and organization). Currently I need to begin making parent phone calls because some of my kids are absolute nightmares in the classroom. I can literally say that I spend half of each class period disciplining students. This isn't fair to my well-behaved students and It's not fair to me but without the organization set in place, keeping track of my troublemakers' infractions have been difficult(although I have a new discipline log so hopefully that will help.).
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
