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Year 6
[Third year of teaching at the same high school.]
August 30, 2010
Yikes. It’s a little scary looking back at my journals from the end of last year. I was really stressed out. I didn’t journal that much, but when I did… yikes.
Today’s the first day of teacher workweek. I feel like an old pro because I survived summer school.
September 10, 2010
It’s the Friday of the first week of school and, as usual, all efforts at staying cool have been obliterated. I am in better shape than last year, though, and I feel I actually have some good lessons I can use next year. I can just change the dates on the agendas and go. My kids are writing “Where I am From” poems right now and they’re doing okay so far. I think. I am also letting them listen to music while writing.
Today my seventh period had the best start to silent reading time that I’ve ever seen. Usually it’s a mental wrestling match for a few weeks: I encourage kids to read silently for a few minutes in class and they promptly ignore me. But they seemed okay today. We’ll see how tomorrow goes. Grade level classes are always hard for me. I need tougher skin.
September 19, 2010
I feel there are a lot of avenues open to me right now in terms of career options. In a little over a year I will have completed UVA’s Reading Specialist endorsement, which will allow me to tutor or take on a different position at school. After I finish I would like to just keep going with classes. I feel my reading degree is very practical.
September 21, 2010
I feel like I’ve written a lot more this year than what’s above, but surprise! I haven’t. This year is flying by, and I feel we are just now getting rolling with things. It takes a long time to get systems into place; this is the third week of school and we are still settling into our schedule.
Right now my intensified students are writing about family traditions. They’ve turned in identity poems already.
September 28th, 2010
We are brainstorming in class right now. My 5th period has moved on to writing persona pieces. Some kids are writing them and others are working on other pieces or staring into space. On workshop days, at the very minimum, we will have a vocabulary quiz, do a writing mini lesson, and go to workshop.
October 4, 2010
I can’t believe it’s already October. We are just staring to solidify our routines.
October 10, 2010
I don’t feel like my teaching (and UVA’s) philosophy of meeting kids where they are fits with the philosophy of standardized testing.
December 3, 2010
Today I tried to integrate vocabulary into my writing/reading routine, but I put it in the middle of reading/writing time and I don’t really like it there. I need to figure out how to best fit it into the routine.
December 10, 2010
Today has been a high emotion day, and I feel all out of sorts. We started the morning with a team meeting [group of teachers that work together], where it was apparent that one of my teammates was completely stressed and overwhelmed in a bad way. She is at her wits end. I have been there. The team meeting took all of 2nd period.
3rd period I had an IEP for Alex and he starting tearing up and I started tearing up and then mom was all upset. Then I escaped and had some lunch but my teammate called to tell me they got called down to the principal’s office. He sent her a stern e-mail saying it was not an option. She spent 30 minutes of lunch crying. What is going on in the world today?
December 17, 2010
I feel exhausted. It’s probably just that I have to go to grad school tonight.
January 2, 2011
I want to be a good teacher but I haven’t had a lot of time to think about my classes outside of school hours for at least two years. I miss having time to reflect. I would like to be a better teacher; I feel like I’m doing a okay job, but I just want to get it right. I want my lessons to be up to my standards.
January 5, 2011
I actually feel rested and happy to go to work tomorrow. This is exciting news.
January 10, 2011
School was good today.
January 19, 2011
I tried to tease writing ideas out of students today but they didn’t really want to share. I think the next time I try that I will have each student contribute and idea to the Smartboard and then as a class we can go into detail about some of the ideas.
I got a 4-paragraph e-mail from Lily’s mom today about how I am tearing down Lily’s self-confidence. I am sick of this mom because she thinks I don’t care about her daughter. That is total bullshit and makes me angry.
January 21, 2011
I feel like the slacker teacher at my school. When I look around, I feel like the scrub of the lot. I don’t like feeling like a scrub, but every morning I drag myself out of bed at the last possible second and drag myself to work half-sleeping, tired, and cranky. I love teaching here but I don’t know how much longer I will be here. Tired of commute.
I am interested in my grad classes this semester and curious to apply what I’ve learned.
January 25, 2011
Today I introduced a writing contest to my students and said I wanted them all to submit something. Most kids are working well today.
January 27, 2011
Snow day!!! It’s good we have off today because I can get some grading done, and I have some kind of chest cold.
February 23, 2011
I am still undecided about spring break. I can use my willpower, not do anything, and maybe pay off my credit card, or I can just open the floodgates and just forget about ever paying it off.
Last night’s grad class was really overwhelming. We covered every learning strategy ever and I don’t use that many. The good thing was that the instructor gave us this packet of strategies with everything we’ve talked about ever in the program, so I am going to start going through it like a checklist.
March 7, 2011
We are finishing up Romeo and Juliet today. I am enjoying teaching but the more I read, the more I realize I need to know about English and writing to be an effective teacher.
[Here are some of my Romeo & Juliet materials:]
I had to kick Missy out of class again. I don’t know what to do with her. Also, got another new student.
April 15, 2011
Long month. Grad class hard. But when I am done, I’ll have enough money to start having a life.
May 10, 2011
I am having a lot of fun this year. My kids are really sweet. I did some things differently, as well, and my grade level classes went a lot smoother...but again, it’s the kids.
Yesterday we went for a walk outside and wrote about the scenery, but the kids did not do a very good job describing the details. It would be worth trying again, but I would need to give them more tools.
May 23, 2011
We are coming up on the end of the year and, once again, I am trying to squeeze too much in, but I think it will be okay. Kids are getting a little squirrely because they feel school is over after the state tests, but I am trying to convince them that we still have a lot of work to do. We do, though. The work never ends.
Overall, I think I did a far better job this year.
I am trying out portfolios so I had to bump some things around. [I love doing writing portfolios at the end of the year. I had to give it up for awhile because it just did not fit into certain curriculums but it works really well with AP Lang & Comp, which I am teaching again this year. Here are my portfolio materials, taking from Jim' Mahoney's Power & Portfolios.]
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I extended the time they had for their research papers, but I don’t think the papers came out any better…things to think about next year when I am planning.
May 26, 2011
Next year I am getting a classroom with a window…woo hoo! I can’t wait.
June 14, 2011
This year was better than my 1st year. I liked some of the activities that I did last year that I didn’t get to this year. I am going to have to think about what I want to cut out, but I am pretty sure it’s going to be the research paper. I have done it for three years now in three different ways and it never really goes well. I really like reading a classic and then doing the YA connections/lit circles after. I didn’t get to do them this year, but I am happy that we are doing portfolios. How can I fit it all in?
I think I can do a better job learning about my students and matching them to books.
June 16, 2011
Today was busy but fulfilling. The kids are doing writing portfolios and I think it’s the best way I have wrapped up a year so far.
June 17, 2011
Today I found one of my kids in the hallway leaning his head against the wall and crying. His girlfriend broke up with him because she’s moving to Kansas. Just the other day they were holding hands at the picnic and I was thought it was so cute. Ben was so sad, and I just wanted to cry with him.
June 19, 2011
I’m a little nervous about getting all of these portfolios graded.
June 22, 2011
The kids put together portfolios to finish up the year and they came out amazing. The portfolios made me a little sad, too, because I realized I didn’t know a lot of my students as people. A lot of them like music and guitar and gardening... I learned all kinds of stuff about them and now the year is over. :(
This is the end of my "Year 6 Teaching Journals." Continue reading here: "Year 7 Teaching Journals."
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