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October 17, 2013
This week was quiet. We had a professional development day on Monday, the PSAT on Wed, and normal classes in between. I’m having fun with AP right now, though I still have so many kinks to work out and objectives to hit. There are a few kids I need to spend more time worrying about, but overall I feel better than I did last year. 10 Honors is a mess but we are trucking through.
My grad class this semester is an online class about blogging. It’s interesting so far, but it’s hard to keep up right now without it being the summer. I’m glad I didn’t decide to take more classes because I’m behind as it is. I’ve been trying to keep up with planning and do stuff around the house. I’m just hoping I can get some sleep and do the work I need to do for my online class.
We are starting Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers today. I wanted to teach it last year but ran out of time and didn’t really know what to do with it. This year, we are going to try.
[The "What is Success" blog post below has my handouts for Outliers.]
October 28, 2013
There are schools that exist that put their students’ health first. If I ever got to a point where I could afford the salary of a private school teacher, it would be an experience to try an alternative, health-focused school. The Khabele School and others are trying out this new approach where-gasp-they focus on student wellness. This is a crazy idea in our current, very high-stakes educational world. I can foster this in my classroom, though, by teaching at a sane pace, assigning a sane amount of homework, and just overall trying to be aware of how my students are feeling.
I looked back at some of my high school papers today and saw some of my high school teacher’s feedback/commentary. The amount of commentary he left was impressive in high school, but it’s even more impressive now that I am a teacher and know what it takes to write that amount of commentary. I wonder if Mr. B wrote on everyone’s paper like that? Either way, I think I can do better.
Anyway, calm day at school (woo hoo), and I got to sort through a bunch of papers that I had laying around… so I feel slightly calmer than I have in awhile.
In AP English we are going to talk about test-taking strategies. I feel I am doing a little better than last year in covering the content and scaffolding. I still feel like I move slowly…but I feel it’s a good pace, so I’ll stick with it.
Family was here this weekend. Little tired.
November 18, 2013
My honors classes felt like a runaway train 1st quarter. Now that we are starting a new unit, I am hoping to work at a pace that will make them and me happier.
November 20, 2013
Trying to work at “my” pace typically means a “slower” pace. I feel bad for the kids who have to be in a class that I am teaching for the first time. I really hope I do not have a new prep next year.
December 6, 2013
There are many questions that I still have about being a teacher. It’s amazing that I have taken so many classes but still feel like there’s stuff I need to learn.
January 8, 2014
I am reading this book by Jonathan Kozal. It’s about helping first year teachers. I would like to support beginning teachers when I am done teaching. Right now, though, after I finish my classes, I need to think about tutoring in order to start saving up for a wedding or house repairs. [I've also read Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol and that shit get me fired.up.]
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February 8, 2014
Last night I checked ratemyteacher.com and got a rude awakening. There was some really nasty stuff on there from 3 of my AP students. It really affected me and I am deeply upset. I know the class did not go well, but to see that some kids felt so wronged that they posted really nasty stuff just killed me. The hard part is that once I got past the nastiness of the comments, I knew there was some truth to them. I do not feel I completely prepared the kids for the exam.
The comment that really hurt was that someone said I “wing” lesson plans; this is so far from the truth I feel confused as to where that came from. I show up with a detailed plan, every class. It may not be the best plan, but “winging it” is not even something I am capable of doing. I have never tried to wing anything in my life.
A lot of the comments said that the class was easy and they weren’t prepared.
So depressed.
I don’t want kids to feel they have been screwed over by my class. [I have since learned to never ever ever read ratemyteacher because this is a lose-lose situation. I can never make everyone happy. I am doing my best and it is what it is. Lots of amazing teachers in the world. I am not one of them. I am okay with it. I do what I can. ]
How To Treat Kids Like Adults
Font
Voice
Pace
Don’t call them “kids”
How to Repair Relationships
Apologize and then follow up
Notes on Antisocial Students
Give them time to start and then address. DO not engage in back and forth. Excuse yourself.
“Ok-take time to yourself if you need it as long as you do not bother others. Let me know if you need help.”
Directives are seen as provocations
Use alpha command language
Give initiating advice: “You may start reading now.” Be specific and direct.
Discipline =making the hard decision
·Do not make excuses.
February 10, 2014
I got a rude awakening this weekend.
I have to learn 3 things:
1. Treat the kids like adults.
2. Make everyone feel special
3. Be rigorous and properly prepare them for exams
These are all abstract goals, though. Now I need to make them concrete.
Other:
4. Never eat in front of kids again.
5. Always exhibit patience even when frustrated or hungry.
6. Learn to be firm but fair in classroom management and assignment collection.
February 21, 2014
I have to figure out how to best handle extended writing in terms of giving feedback…
February 24, 2014
Trying to increase rigor, but I feel like I’ve just gone back to my original way of teaching. I guess it’s good to have knowledge of lots of different teaching styles.
Also, just checked the Google Docs of my sophomores and some of them have not touched their outline for four days. Yesterday my 7th period had way too much fun during workshop time. I guess I’ve learned they are not really feeling the heat…I could always start a new unit while they are working on the papers at home. Getting tired of teens being teens. Lol.
February 8, 2014
My AP kids and I are heading into March now, and I am again starting to feel like we have not done enough of the formal writing we need to do to prep for the exam. GRRR. Where does the time go? I wanted to do dialectical journals, but I think I need to do more writing. I felt like I was doing better, but now I am starting to feel unsure. Really need to pick up the pace. One of these years I’ll figure out how to squeeze it all in…sure.
March 4, 2014
Losing patience with kids. Must work to increase patience as I increase expectations.
April 17, 2014
Work is starting to feel very cutthroat lately. The kids are super intense and don’t like that I do not teach to the test and that I do not assign a bunch of crazy work.
It’s a lot of pressure…Be rigorous and patient but not overwhelming… but human and funny…so on and so forth. NO PROBLEM.
If my schedule gets changed again next year, I will be very annoyed.
May 2, 2014
Last night I finished my last stupid paper for grad school and submitted it. The class was annoying. Now I have 4 credits left to finish for my +30…I’ve paid a lot of money to get my raise, but I am almost there…then I can wait a year and a half to make up the money and start making a profit.
I am going to be on year 10 next year. Holy cow.
May 12, 2014
Yay! Done with grad classes for this semester. It feels so good to come home and get other things besides graduate work done.
May 19, 2014
It’s hard to believe it’s May. My schedule was awesome and my kids were awesome and next year I start all over.
I’ve signed up for a couple of summer gigs. I’m close to paying my bills but not yet, so I still need to do extra stuff. I’m trying to get to the point where I only work 1 job but I still spend too much…working on it.
May 22, 2014
This year I was really feeling down about my teaching. I read my reviews on ratemyteacher and was really upset and questioned if I should even be in this profession. But I worked on improving. Then over the last few months, I got a few really nice “thank you” cards and that made me emotional. It means a lot to me if anyone says thank you because it feels like a thankless job most of the time.
Things I need to do so kids don’t hate me:
Be patient all the time. (Really hard. Even if I have a good excuse, it doesn’t matter.)
Be fair and clear and consistent. (It’s hard but it pays off.)
Be flexible
Teach well: make confusing things clear
Don’t be too easy.
Stay organized
So yeah. Will just keep trying to improve. I have to remember that this job will be really shitty sometimes and really awesome sometimes. I would prefer that it start making me feel a little less shitty sometimes.
June 20, 2014
Last day of school. It was a good year.
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