This blog post continues my "Year 7 Teaching Journals."
Year 8
[Fifth year at the same high school.]
August 28, 2012
We went back to school yesterday. It was a little overwhelming at first but I feel a little more settled today. Hopefully I can get some planning done tomorrow. I have a student teacher this year and I am a little nervous about making sure I do a good job.
August 30, 2012
School is settling down and I am partly ready. It is interesting to have a student teacher because you have to be awake and do your best to be on top of your game. I like it, though, so we will see how it goes. I want to try and use the time to plan for AP. I don’t want to get used to having it to grade papers or anything.
Sept 7, 2012
Damn. The first week of school flies by every year. It’s overwhelming and exciting all at the same time. I am really impressed with the juniors and how familiar they are with the routines. It saves a lot of time that first week.
It’s overwhelming to figure out how to organize this AP 11 class. Now that I have started I feel slightly better…just slightly…maybe.
I also have a student teacher, which I wanted, but it’s also scary to be in charge because I really don’t want to mess up a teacher to-be or pass on bad habits.
First month is always chaotic.
September 8, 2012
Spent the night trying to absorb 11 AP materials.
Sept 14, 2012
My student teacher showed up at 8 am on the first day of teacher workweek and the craziness hasn’t stopped since. I always feel confused and completely discombobulated when school starts, and it’s fine, but it always takes me by surprise. I am 3 weeks into the school year, but it doesn’t actually feel like it’s been that long. I actually cannot believe it has been 3 weeks already, now that I stop and think about it. I did say that I wanted to encourage new teachers, but I need to make a better go of it. I got a little cranky by the end of this week.
I should probably check in with my student teacher and ask more questions. I hope she’s doing okay. I feel a little pressure with the AP class because I don’t know what I am doing. At least with the grade level students, I have a better idea of what does not work, and I am on block schedule so that helps a lot. I want to try and do a good job. It takes a lot of time. I don’t want work to take over my life, but the more I try this year, the easier it will be next year. But I also like that when I work, I get lost in in and I am not thinking about money or the beach of anything like that …so I appreciate the relief it gives me.
My AP class was much better today; I need to be more careful to not just throw information at the kids.
September 19, 2012
I like that school keeps me busy because I don’t have time to perseverate over money.
I like having a student teacher in the classroom because it makes the day more fun.
September 20, 2012
So funny. My student teacher had the kids watch a YouTube video of a man crying over a double rainbow. Then she had them write about it. It was part of our nature unit. So hilarious.
September 23, 2012
I am sitting here grading papers. I know what my AP kids can do and I am happy because I know how I can help them improve. I like figuring out how to break down information so that kids understand it.
September 24, 2012
I had to rush my 5th period students today so that they could catch up to my other classes. I could tell my student teacher didn’t agree to it, but I think she would let that class lollygag along forever; it’s really hard to stay organized if one class gets behind…so I think she’ll forgive me. Maybe.
September 27, 2012
Today was my student teacher’s first day taking over and her lesson plans were awesome. They were thorough and good.
October 1, 2012
Back To School Night tonight. It’s not that it’s bad; it’s just taxing. I can’t believe it’s October.
October 2, 2012
My student teacher is doing a good job overall. I don’t know what I am going to do when she is not here anymore.
October 3, 2012
Today I definitely just complained too much instead of trying to tackle the problem. For example: 3rd period too talkative? Review the expectations and guidelines and implement consequences. Table arrangement causing too much talking? Switch to rows.
I have a bit of a headache. Teaching a new class is hard, but it’s a lot harder when you know how good it can be after a few years of practice. The awareness of how good it could be versus what it is right now is stressful
October 9, 2012
I’m having hard time being a cooperative teacher...I thought I would be good at having a student teacher. I am a little controlling and I always have answers-sometimes too many. I looked up good traits of a cooperative teacher and I need to work on letting her control the class, being positive, and being professional. I need to “steer gently.”
October 10, 2012
Today I am a lot less stressed because I am learning to “steer gently.” That means I need to back off and not butt in all the time.
It’s really hard to have a student teacher, or any student, and watch them struggle and know you just have to let them try and do their thing. My student teacher is enthusiastic but I think we can try and play more games, and maybe more partner work.
October 12, 2012
I dropped my next graduate class. My second grammar class was just as bad as the first. I don’t think I will be taking anymore. I just want to be taught. These online classes are like glorified workbooks.
Teaching is such a hard thing. I see how it’s more of a skill now than I ever had in the past. It’s definitely undervalued, but I when I am paying $400 for a class I expect to actually be taught something by a real teacher.
October 21, 2012
AP reflections: Next year I would like to be done with the rhetorical analysis paper by the end of 1st quarter. Just in general, I need to move faster and cram a ridiculous amount of vocabulary into their heads. The vocabulary lists need to be at least 20 words, if not more.
2nd quarter, ideally, I would like to get through the rhetorical analysis and open prompt so that on the next quarter exam they can do multiple choice and open essay. For this exam they are just barely completing the beginning of an essay. Lastly, I used Outliers but I don’t know if I am going to use it this year. I feel like I want to use a bunch of shorter essays and look at all the different types of styles.
A good opening activity would be to do one of the activities from my AP training: the facilitator asked us to look at letters between Minh and Johnson during Vietnam war and take a stand on who made the stronger argument. What you realize is that they are both really strong arguments even though they are very different. I would also like to use “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Sojourner Truth, and Elizabeth Cody Stanton. I will use those along with the book 50 Essays.
[I did eventually create some of these lessons. Here's my TpT product for Sojourner Truth and a link to the blog post with "Letter from Birmingham Jail" handouts.]
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October 23, 2012
I have come to realize more and more lately that it’s easy to think up ideas, even easier to write them down or say them and a whole different thing to actually do them.
October 24, 2012
One day at a time.
November 1, 2012
My student teacher and I have survived the first two months of school. In my head, this is the point in the year where things calm down and I being to feel I will be able to make it through the rest of the year. We are no longer at the beginning; we are in the thick of it and will be until the end of April. I really want to enjoy the year and not wish it away.
November 7, 2012
Now that I am done with grad school, I see how it made me a better teacher. It has also helped me pay the bills. The life-work balance sucked, though.
I got a really nice e-mail today questioning my grading system, but stuff like that always bothers me, regardless of how nicely it was stated.
November 8, 2012
It is hard to believe that my student teacher is almost done. She started on August 27 and has come so far.
What is especially hard this year is that I am still feeling out my lesson plans for my new class. It takes a lot of trial and error (more error). I have a lot of interesting students this year and I enjoy their company.
No matter how well I layout directions, a lot of kids will ask a lot of questions. I need to have patience.
No matter how well you think you have taught something, some kids didn’t get it. Figure out one more way to teach it.
The students train you- not the other way around.
Parents are annoying but usually your best chance at getting a kid moving.
Kids usually do the best they can do with what you give them, so if they are not doing anything, it is your fault (partly).
I am currently trying to wrap up my rhetorical analysis unit. AP is going okay. There’s lots of room for improvement-mostly I need to mix it up. I think watching the movie and writing personal credos will help.
November 13, 2012
I am still getting the hang of this AP class. It’s just going to take awhile to figure out how to write questions and how to streamline papers and which graphic organizer works best. The rhetorical analysis unit is still going. I will be lucky to finish before Christmas…yikes. I keep trying to squeeze in too much or skip parts that are important. Today we are discussing “On Work” by Chris Clausen in my AP classes, and in the grade level classes, we are trying to finish persuasive essays. Both are going just okay.
We have a lot of meetings this week because one got rescheduled from last week and the others are crammed in from Thanksgiving week. I thought there was another full week before Thanksgiving but break is actually next week.
One of these years I want to look forward to the year instead of being overwhelmed by it.
November 14, 2012
Today period 2 is wrapping up their persuasive essays. We need to do a lot more writing. I need to do a midyear essay to get data for my professional development goal, but I need to look at the baseline essays provided by the county. I can do this before Christmas break…then I could maybe grade them during the drive to the in-laws (even though I get a headache doing that).
November 28, 2012
We are on our 3rd day of Romanticism. Today we are going to share out answers to questions and maybe get started on the closing project.
Teaching juniors is different than teaching freshmen. Different energy levels… and I need to write a lot recommendation letters.
November 29, 2012
Even though I feel I am feeling my way through a dark room without a candle, I am enjoying the 11th grade classes. I like the content and I miss the freshman teams…but not totally. There’s more independence with juniors.
It has also been interesting to have a student teacher. It’s now the end of November/December and she’s starting to come into her element.
Layla, an autistic student, is throwing me for a loop a bit. I’m not struggling as much as when I had Charlie & Nancy but…I’m struggling a bit.
The kids here are really nice. I am really lucky.
November 30, 2012
I can already feel myself getting a little stressed about not having a second teacher. I am cranky trying to keep up with all of the details and have lost patience with the kids all day…just a little bit, but I still feel bad when I lose my patience.
Today we are studying Romanticism and the students are tackling passages by Thoreau ad Emerson. It’s hard work.
This is the end of my "Year 8 Teaching Journals-Beginning. "
Year 8 continued here:
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