Oh readers - how I have missed you! Since my last post I have not had a single minute to myself until school let out Friday. And I mean that totally seriously. I get up at 5:30, drive an hour to work, am at school until 4:45, get home at 6:00, eat dinner, then work until I go to bed. That schedule needs to change if I'm going to keep my sanity. I'm hoping that this will only be this time consuming the first few weeks. I can't push myself this hard for an entire year.
But I have so much to say! So much happened this week. Was it the longest week EVER for you guys, too? Like did you wake up on Tuesday and think it was already Friday before realizing, no, you have 4 more days! I really think I got stuck in some kind of time warp. So let me start off by saying that right now, I'm in a pretty good place emotionally. I just don't want you to worry too much when I tell you how my week went because it was really terrible. But Friday was a good day, so I'm ok now. Let me start at the beginning.
So I last posted after the second day of staff development before school started. Unfortunately, I can barely remember what happened those second two days. I know I spent hours and hours trying to decorate my room which apparently wasn't decorated up to par. We also went to more meetings about teaching to the standards and stuff like that. Nothing interesting enough to write about here. Then, I spent the entire weekend preparing for the first day of school. Making the letter I sent home to parents, student surveys, parent surveys, etc. In order to make all the photocopies I needed (about 550 copies) I needed to go to my boyfriend's work. Without revealing too much, I'll say he works at a place that uses a lot of paper so no one would notice a missing ream of paper. This is great connection to have since I have to buy my own paper in DC. There is no school supply of paper. Isn't that ridiculous? DC spends so much money per student but that can't include the cost of paper? Oh - and the photocopier in my school barely works. It jams everytime you use it, prints in shades of gray, and is often broken. Shall I continue with how materials are lacking in the school? The overhead projector I found in my room doesn't work. The staff lounge has no air conditioning. I have no basic art supplies like colored pencils or markers or big paper. The four computers sitting in my room aren't hooked up to anything and so are completely useless. That includes no computer for me as the teacher. I can keep going, but I get angry and upset when I do, so I'll stop.
First day of school was pretty ok. Nothing of incident happened. The student body was assembled in the auditorium, yelled at for a while, and then every teacher called the names of their homeroom students off the role. I think only about 8 of my students were there on day 1. I explained some of the procedures of my room, had them fill out some paper work, come up with some classroom rules, make nametags, and then took pictures of them holding ther nametags to help me memorize their names. This ended up looking a lot more like mugshots than I had intended, but I highly recommend it to all teachers. I did this student teeaching, too, and it helped immensely in learning names. I just load the pictures on my computer and flip through them like flash cards. Anyway, homeroom and 3rd period went fine without incident like I said, and then I had a free period before the school day ended. I worked until bedtime and then it was day 2.
Day two went very badly. On even days (periods 2, 4, and 6), I have 8th graders which are an entirely different breed. I did all the same activities, but the classes talked over me the whole time. I'd get them quiet, talk for 5 seconds, then they'd talk again. I'd wait, run my timer deducting time from their 15 minutes of free time on Fridays, and a while later they'd finally shut up. They just totally didn't care about the Friday time. 4th period had two students that were talking and defiant so I asked one of them to go to the time-out/behavior corner, and he wouldn't go. So I said he'd have lunch detention. Then I said that if he finished he work quietly, he could go to lunch. This worked at the time, but I realized later I should not have done that. I undermined my own authority. 6th period is a GT (gifted and talented) class that is being piloted this year and they were just as bad. I was so dissappointed and discouraged. Very very discouraged. I felt terrible.
Over the next two nights, I called the homes of all my 8th grade students introducing myself, making sure the kids gave their guardians the stuff they were supposed to, and that they would have the materials they would need. I left messages at most homes, and a few numbers were disconnected. I can say that I didn't notice any difference in the behavior of those classes on Thursday.
Wednesday's 7th grade classes were behaved ok, but were bored out of their minds. I explained all the manners and had them break off into pairs to perform little skits modelling most of the classroom expectations. (By the way, I changed my rules a bit before I gave them to the kids. I got rid of the ma'am thing, deodorant thing, added a hands-to-yourself thing, and some more I can't recall.) Getting these kids to participate in this activity was harder than pulling teeth. Meanwhile, I was being observed by one of my administrators. I can only imagine what kind of negative comments she was writing about my teaching watching this. The kids barely had a pulse!
I realized that if 7th graders couldn't model these expectations, this activity would definitely not fly with the 8th graders. I made the executive decision to scrap my entire plan to model expectations with them the next day and to instead load them up with busy work. This was on the advice of other teachers in the school. They told me that the 8th graders are too grown to model rules and that they will only behavve if they are busy 100% of the time. They said the best thing you can do is give them a list of vocabulary words to define. So I went against all previous advice and skipped the day of modelling expectations with them and decided to go straight into reviewing the scientific method.
Oh, but how that failed, too. I went home Wednesday night and stayed up late putting together some worksheets that were intended to review the scientific method and challenge them a bit. Review scientific method? How about these kids don't even remember anything called the scientific method. They don't know what cause and effect means (every single kid in the class said that a rooster crowing causes the sun to rise in the morning). They've never heard the word bias before. They've never heard the word logic before. And to top it all off - they can't read! Good god these poor kids can't read. The ones who can read sentences still can't understand what the sentences actually mean.
So mix this total failure of a lesson plan with terrible behavior. In my 4th period class, the two boys who were defiant last class were replaced by three new little monsters. And I don't mean that lightly. These kids frighten me. I think chaos is the only word I can use for that class. They were shouting and out of their seat the whole time. One girl, I'll call her Cruella, took the boy's notebook and run water over it in the sink. She wrote the F-word on his portfolio. The boy, I'll call him DeVil, ripped up this portfolio (which I had given to him only minutes ago) in front of me and told all the other teachers in the school that I ran water over his notebook. I was totally helpless! I opted to remain calm for fear of showing weakness by flipping out without any effect. I kept thinking to myself that I need to call the front office and have these two escorted out, but I didn't. I was too afraid to look weak to the administration, too. So instead I kept the two in for lunch detention. This essentially punishes me. I can keep them n for 30 minutes then I have to let them go eat. But, instead of leaving to eat, the two of them proceeded to roam the hallways and follow me around asking me why I was going to call their families and how that wouldnt work and bla, bla, bla. I eventually resorted to locking myself in my room as they shouted at me through the door. I mean, what the hell am I supposed to do about this?! I see these two again on Tuesday and I have no idea what to do about it! I know I'll have referrals to the office written up ahead of time since I'm sure I'll need to send them, but that's not enough. I can't teach this class with these two monsters in there. Ughhh...
Friday, thankfully, was incident free again. I dumbed down the worksheets on the scientific method about 10-fold before giving it to the 7th graders and it kind of worked. I also didn't have them work on their own. We went through the worksheets together as a class. Actually, let me be more accurate about that. I tried to get them to come up with the answers, but minus 3 or 4 bright students in the classes, most of the kids either tired really hard and still didn't get it or were just staring blankly at me like, "what is taking you so long to give me the answers, Ms. Newbie?" So, behavior, good. Getting these kids to learn anything, not so good. How do you teach 20 or 25 kids to read? Especially when they are on totally different levels. People will say "differentiated instruction, of course". Much easier said than done. I'll be working on this all year I'm sure.
Oh, and science labs? Psh... yea right. As if I can give things to these kids. The DC curriculum suggests 8th graders drop balls from different heights to find f=ma and make graphs and stuff. Ha! You want me to hand balls to these kids? I can't think of anything I can give them that won't immediately be a weapon. The other science teacher agreed with me. She said that she only did one lab last year. Oh, so sad. So sad.
Oh and speaking of science teachers... Did mention that there's three of us? There's me with 7th and 8th grade, a second year teacher with 6th and 7th, and the department chair with 6th and 8th. The department chair was science teacher of the year last year. She's great. But she's also gone. She quit to take a job somewhere else. As of Tuesday, the school is short one science teacher. Other teachers in the school, including myself, are covering all those classes until a new teacher is hired. Poor other-science-teacher is forced to come up with stuff for them to do. I feel like I should be doing some of this but I'm barely keeping my head above water as it is.
Alright, so talking about all of this just stresses me out. I spent Friday night and all of Saturday relaxing with my boyfriend, but I've got to get back to work. I need to find about five different ways to teach the scientific method. I loved that paper towel idea by the way. I can afford that and it shouldn't result in weapons like I was saying earlier. So thank you so much for that idea! The blog is helping! I'll try to post during the week this week, but if not, I'll definitely update you all come next weekend. Have a great week, everyone!
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Four days until school starts
And I am soooo worried about so many things. Before I get into that, let me tell you about the last two days of staff development at my school.
Yesterday was the first time I met the rest of the staff. Everyone seems really nice, really. Everyone was offering to help me and especially the younger teachers practically took me under their wing socially. For instance, inviting me out to lunch with them even though, being seriously strapped for cash right now, I had brought mine. How do these young teachers afford buying 7 dollar sandwiches everyday? The only problem was, when I went out with them, they kept telling me how horrible the students are and how I'm going to be cussed out and how the kids are going to throw things out the windows and stuff. They were all saying, "I don't mean to scare you, I'm just trying to be real with you." I know, and I appreciate that, but it totally didn't help. I kind of knew all of that already, but it being my first day in a real job with real coworkers and all of them setting me up to expect failure - it ruined my day to say the least. My mom compared it to being pregnant and telling all your friends, but all they can do is tell you stories about how horrible labor is. Never having been pregnant, I'll take her word on that.
For me, I realized I basically felt homesick. I don't about you all, but sometimes when I am away from home for the first few nights of an extended stay, I get really sad and nervous and scared. I travelled to India once for a month (it was great, by the way), and I can still remember my first night there being one of the worst days of my life. I kept saying to myself, "What the hell was I thinking coming here for a month? I'm going to hate this so much." Well, that's exactly what I was saying to myself last night, except instead of fearing the next month, I was fearing the next year. Everyone keeps saying, "Just don't let the kids see you cry" and I would respond, "Oh yea, that won't be a problem." Meanwhile, I got home and I cried. I was holding back throwing up and crying all day. I couldn't eat and I couldn't look anyone in the eye. I got home and my mom asked me excitedly how my day went, and I cried. I'm very glad that I cried to her and not on this blog because I feel much better today.
Not to say I'm not still worried, because I am. Today I really came to understand that these children don't just have no support at home and haven't had a great education up until now, and even that many aren't just abused or witness abuse at home (if they aren't too busy raising themselves). I learned that a lot of the kids may have fetal alcohol syndrome or have been crack babies or maybe even have lead poisoning. So on top of being emotional disturbed by the troubling lives they are living in the ghetto, they may also have their very own minds working against them. I asked if I should expect to have emotionally disturbed kids in my class and was told I most certainly should. What can I say? I have no training for this. I have zero training on discipline, management, special education, inclusion, or anything of the sort. Hence, the constant worry.
But, as far as my mood goes, I am feeling better. It's becoming abundantly clear that despite all of these obstacles, every teacher in the school is really committed to the students. This isn't just a job - they really want to make a difference. I came into this profession not out of charity or wanting to better the world. I became a teacher because I love teaching. But now I'm seeing that I should really start to embrace this idea of changing the world one child at a time. I want to improve this school and work hard for these kids just like the rest of my coworkers. They are an inspiration, really. I should take the time to say again how great they are. I was fully prepared to write this blog without ever mentioning my administration for fear that they may discover my blog and I could get in trouble. But, as it turns out, I think I'll have nothing but good things to say about them. Of course, I've only been there two days. Maybe I shouldn't speak too soon ;-)
As far as my classroom, I've barely made a dent in the mess the previous teacher left behind. On the up side, I have discovered all sorts of school supplies like tape, chalk, staples, and even 2 boxes of printer paper (which teachers have to buy for themselves here). I also found an overhead projector (phew). I got keys to the classroom and storage room, too. So, I've found school supplies and I've started to organize the room in an orderly way, but I still don't know what I'm doing on the 5th day of school or beyond! I'm thinking of having a philosophical discussion about what is science and then having the kids do a free-write, mainly so I can see what their writing skills look like. I should probably get my hand on some other diagnostic tests as well to see just how much I'll need to differentiate (please, not much, please, please!).
I'm going to bed now like I should have done 45 minutes ago at 9:00pm (so lame). I'm going out tomorrow night with my boyfriend and his buddies to see Dave Chappelle in DC. Watch his bit be all about southeast schools or something. I'm totally looking forward to having a social life tomorrow, but I need to sleep a lot tonight if I'm going to last on 5 hours of sleep on Friday. I am oh so overwhelmed. Oh well - I'll get through it soon enough and forget I was ever worried in the first place. On that thought - Goodnight!
Yesterday was the first time I met the rest of the staff. Everyone seems really nice, really. Everyone was offering to help me and especially the younger teachers practically took me under their wing socially. For instance, inviting me out to lunch with them even though, being seriously strapped for cash right now, I had brought mine. How do these young teachers afford buying 7 dollar sandwiches everyday? The only problem was, when I went out with them, they kept telling me how horrible the students are and how I'm going to be cussed out and how the kids are going to throw things out the windows and stuff. They were all saying, "I don't mean to scare you, I'm just trying to be real with you." I know, and I appreciate that, but it totally didn't help. I kind of knew all of that already, but it being my first day in a real job with real coworkers and all of them setting me up to expect failure - it ruined my day to say the least. My mom compared it to being pregnant and telling all your friends, but all they can do is tell you stories about how horrible labor is. Never having been pregnant, I'll take her word on that.
For me, I realized I basically felt homesick. I don't about you all, but sometimes when I am away from home for the first few nights of an extended stay, I get really sad and nervous and scared. I travelled to India once for a month (it was great, by the way), and I can still remember my first night there being one of the worst days of my life. I kept saying to myself, "What the hell was I thinking coming here for a month? I'm going to hate this so much." Well, that's exactly what I was saying to myself last night, except instead of fearing the next month, I was fearing the next year. Everyone keeps saying, "Just don't let the kids see you cry" and I would respond, "Oh yea, that won't be a problem." Meanwhile, I got home and I cried. I was holding back throwing up and crying all day. I couldn't eat and I couldn't look anyone in the eye. I got home and my mom asked me excitedly how my day went, and I cried. I'm very glad that I cried to her and not on this blog because I feel much better today.
Not to say I'm not still worried, because I am. Today I really came to understand that these children don't just have no support at home and haven't had a great education up until now, and even that many aren't just abused or witness abuse at home (if they aren't too busy raising themselves). I learned that a lot of the kids may have fetal alcohol syndrome or have been crack babies or maybe even have lead poisoning. So on top of being emotional disturbed by the troubling lives they are living in the ghetto, they may also have their very own minds working against them. I asked if I should expect to have emotionally disturbed kids in my class and was told I most certainly should. What can I say? I have no training for this. I have zero training on discipline, management, special education, inclusion, or anything of the sort. Hence, the constant worry.
But, as far as my mood goes, I am feeling better. It's becoming abundantly clear that despite all of these obstacles, every teacher in the school is really committed to the students. This isn't just a job - they really want to make a difference. I came into this profession not out of charity or wanting to better the world. I became a teacher because I love teaching. But now I'm seeing that I should really start to embrace this idea of changing the world one child at a time. I want to improve this school and work hard for these kids just like the rest of my coworkers. They are an inspiration, really. I should take the time to say again how great they are. I was fully prepared to write this blog without ever mentioning my administration for fear that they may discover my blog and I could get in trouble. But, as it turns out, I think I'll have nothing but good things to say about them. Of course, I've only been there two days. Maybe I shouldn't speak too soon ;-)
As far as my classroom, I've barely made a dent in the mess the previous teacher left behind. On the up side, I have discovered all sorts of school supplies like tape, chalk, staples, and even 2 boxes of printer paper (which teachers have to buy for themselves here). I also found an overhead projector (phew). I got keys to the classroom and storage room, too. So, I've found school supplies and I've started to organize the room in an orderly way, but I still don't know what I'm doing on the 5th day of school or beyond! I'm thinking of having a philosophical discussion about what is science and then having the kids do a free-write, mainly so I can see what their writing skills look like. I should probably get my hand on some other diagnostic tests as well to see just how much I'll need to differentiate (please, not much, please, please!).
I'm going to bed now like I should have done 45 minutes ago at 9:00pm (so lame). I'm going out tomorrow night with my boyfriend and his buddies to see Dave Chappelle in DC. Watch his bit be all about southeast schools or something. I'm totally looking forward to having a social life tomorrow, but I need to sleep a lot tonight if I'm going to last on 5 hours of sleep on Friday. I am oh so overwhelmed. Oh well - I'll get through it soon enough and forget I was ever worried in the first place. On that thought - Goodnight!
Monday, August 21, 2006
I met my classroom today
Thank you so much for posting everyone. I love to hear from you and get such good advice. For instance, I'm using the black construction paper for border now. Alaska had mentioned being interested in seeing my behavior management plan. You will find my entire management plan below after a news about what I did today (I actually typed out a whole long description of the whole thing a minute ago and tried to post it, then my internet froze and I lost the whole thing! So I'm going to try and make this brief because I have things to do tonight.)
Today, I went into my school and spent a lot of time in my classroom. Seeing how school starts in exactly one week, I expected all the teachers to be there setting up, but as it turned out, it was just me and one of the other science teachers. I'm so glad she was there because if it weren't for her, I'd have just left. She showed me where the one old, often-broken copy machine was and the big rolls of butcher paper. She also informed me that I may need to bring in my own printer and that I'll be lucky if I get a computer. There are 4 monitors in my room but no computers. I'll need to suck it up and spend a lot of my own money and supplies like paper, printer ink, staplers, etc. The copy machine doesn't blow up images so I can't print up neat posters. This goes on and on and on. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought. My student teaching lessons absolutely depended on handouts, the internet, and an LCD projector. My lessons were so interactive. But with limited handouts, no internet, and not even an overhead projector in sight, I'm at a loss. I'm going to have to get my hands on an overhead projector at least. It's hard to say how I feel right now. I'm not overwhelmed or defeated. Maybe more like frustrated and disturbed in a sad kind of way. I am going to have to completely re-vamp my teaching style for low-level learners without all the wonderful tools tailored for low-level learners I'm used to.
What did I accomplish today? I arranged the tables in my awkwardly set up room in a surprisingly functional way and covered some corkboard with butcher paper. Yea - that's it. Tomorrow, besides from whatever the administration has planned for us, I'll have to fill up many a trash bag with stuff left behind from the teacher who used to be in my room and organize whatever is left. If the person before me had organized the stuff in the classroom, it would probably save me two days worth of work. Two days I NEED because I only have lesson plans lasting me until Thursday next week. Only 4 days! Gahh! With that in mind, let me hurry up and post my management plan, then run to make some poster for my classroom.
I created this plan so that it would probably work with any school-wide discipline policy and rules. I have not yet seen what my school's policy is, so I can't tell you how much I need to adapt this to my specific placement or not. Hopefully, I'll learn that kind of thing tomorrow when school starts for teachers. I also created this plan for myself. I think for where I am at right now, in order for me to be the great teacher I want to be, I need a plan as specific as mine is. I don't want to and can't afford to argue with students about whether or not they broke a rule. The idea is that my plan is specific enough and easy enough that a student should recognize instantly when they have broken a rule and accept the consequence without much argument.
Every other Friday I will give the class 15-minute Friday Free-Time. When the class does not quiet down after I raise my hand and say, ""5,4,3,2,1 Quiet", then I will run a timer and deduct time from their 15 minutes. I will also deduct 1 minute for every homework assignment not turned in. I'm going to ask the kids to bring my some of their CD's for me to screen at home and then I'll play the school-appropriate ones during their free time.
With that all said, here I present my rules for life in and out of the classroom - "Mind your Manners", my classroom expectations, my negative consequences, and my "Menu of Rewards". Notice that the consequences are predictable and simple, yet flexible enough for me not to use the same punishment on a kid over and over again who does not respond to that particular punishment. FYI: tickets for trinkets is pulling a filled-out good behavior ticket out of a hat and pulling a useless silly trinket out of another bag. Random give-away of random prize.
Classroom Expectations
Rewards Menu
Appetizer
- Good behavior ticket
Main Course
- Drawing tickets for trinkets
- +2 points on classwork
Dessert
- Thank you note home
- Thank you phone call home
Alright - that's it. Hopefully I'll have good news tomorrow. It should be since I'll finally learn how my school actually runs. Right now I'm flying blind. Goodnight!
Today, I went into my school and spent a lot of time in my classroom. Seeing how school starts in exactly one week, I expected all the teachers to be there setting up, but as it turned out, it was just me and one of the other science teachers. I'm so glad she was there because if it weren't for her, I'd have just left. She showed me where the one old, often-broken copy machine was and the big rolls of butcher paper. She also informed me that I may need to bring in my own printer and that I'll be lucky if I get a computer. There are 4 monitors in my room but no computers. I'll need to suck it up and spend a lot of my own money and supplies like paper, printer ink, staplers, etc. The copy machine doesn't blow up images so I can't print up neat posters. This goes on and on and on. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought. My student teaching lessons absolutely depended on handouts, the internet, and an LCD projector. My lessons were so interactive. But with limited handouts, no internet, and not even an overhead projector in sight, I'm at a loss. I'm going to have to get my hands on an overhead projector at least. It's hard to say how I feel right now. I'm not overwhelmed or defeated. Maybe more like frustrated and disturbed in a sad kind of way. I am going to have to completely re-vamp my teaching style for low-level learners without all the wonderful tools tailored for low-level learners I'm used to.
What did I accomplish today? I arranged the tables in my awkwardly set up room in a surprisingly functional way and covered some corkboard with butcher paper. Yea - that's it. Tomorrow, besides from whatever the administration has planned for us, I'll have to fill up many a trash bag with stuff left behind from the teacher who used to be in my room and organize whatever is left. If the person before me had organized the stuff in the classroom, it would probably save me two days worth of work. Two days I NEED because I only have lesson plans lasting me until Thursday next week. Only 4 days! Gahh! With that in mind, let me hurry up and post my management plan, then run to make some poster for my classroom.
I created this plan so that it would probably work with any school-wide discipline policy and rules. I have not yet seen what my school's policy is, so I can't tell you how much I need to adapt this to my specific placement or not. Hopefully, I'll learn that kind of thing tomorrow when school starts for teachers. I also created this plan for myself. I think for where I am at right now, in order for me to be the great teacher I want to be, I need a plan as specific as mine is. I don't want to and can't afford to argue with students about whether or not they broke a rule. The idea is that my plan is specific enough and easy enough that a student should recognize instantly when they have broken a rule and accept the consequence without much argument.
Every other Friday I will give the class 15-minute Friday Free-Time. When the class does not quiet down after I raise my hand and say, ""5,4,3,2,1 Quiet", then I will run a timer and deduct time from their 15 minutes. I will also deduct 1 minute for every homework assignment not turned in. I'm going to ask the kids to bring my some of their CD's for me to screen at home and then I'll play the school-appropriate ones during their free time.
With that all said, here I present my rules for life in and out of the classroom - "Mind your Manners", my classroom expectations, my negative consequences, and my "Menu of Rewards". Notice that the consequences are predictable and simple, yet flexible enough for me not to use the same punishment on a kid over and over again who does not respond to that particular punishment. FYI: tickets for trinkets is pulling a filled-out good behavior ticket out of a hat and pulling a useless silly trinket out of another bag. Random give-away of random prize.
Mind Your Manners
1. When responding to an adult, you must answer by saying “Yes, ma’am” or “No, sir.” Just nodding your head or saying any other form of yes or no is not acceptable.
2. Make eye contact. When someone is speaking, keep your eyes on them. If someone makes a comment, turn and face that person.
3. If someone does something well, congratulate that person. (In class, we will applaud.)
4. During discussions, respect everyone’s comments, opinions, and ideas. Always acknowledge what someone said before you.
5. If you win or do something well, do not brag. If you lose, do not show anger.
6. Do not smack your lips, tsk, roll your eyes, or show disrespect with gestures.
7. Do not use curse words.
8. Always say thank you when someone gives you something or helps you in any way.
9. It is rude to ask for a reward for good behavior or a good performance.
10. Do not whine, moan, or complain when assigned a task. If you do not like something about the task, politely explain your reasoning.
11. Do not watch while other people are being reprimanded. It makes them very uncomfortable.
12. Do not litter and clean up any other trash you see.
13. If someone else drops something, pick it up for them even if they are closer.
14. Hold doors open for those behind you.
15. If someone bumps into you, even if it was not your fault, say, “Excuse me.”
Classroom Expectations
- All school-wide rules are in effect.
2. Always respect others and their property.
3. Support a safe learning environment for all.
4. Be prepared for class on time.
5. Homework will be turned in by all students everyday, no exceptions.
6. Transitions in class will be swift, quiet, and orderly.
7. The class will be silent during any school announcements.
8. All paperwork will remain organized.
9. You may only speak or leave your seat when given permission.
10. When we read together as a class, you will follow along. If I call on you to read, you must know exactly where we are and begin reading immediately.
11. If you have a dispute with another student, do not fuss or argue. Tell me and I will handle the situation.
12. Always be honest.
13. Follow all rules and display your best manners with a substitute just as you do with me.
14. Deodorant is for armpits only. Not for body sprays.
15. Be the person you want to be.
Consequences for Misbehavior
| 1st Offense | · Verbal warning |
| 2nd Offense | · Time-out corner · “See me after class” · Conference in the hall |
| 3rd Offense | · Sit in the hall and copy classroom rules or “rephrase that” · Silent lunch with Ms. DC Newbie · Morning detention where you must: Ø Write about alternative ways to handle the situation that got you there, Ø Clean desks, or Ø Time for reflection (clean bathroom mirrors) |
| 4th Offense | · Bounce pass · After-school detention · Three-part form sent home to be signed by parent/guardian · Written apology to offended student OR behavior improvement plan · Reading a story from The Book of Virtues and writing a 1-2 page essay on how it relates to your situation, how you mishandled it, and how you will handle it next time. |
| 5th Offense | · Parent/Teacher Conference |
Rewards Menu
Appetizer
- Good behavior ticket
Main Course
- Drawing tickets for trinkets
- +2 points on classwork
Dessert
- Thank you note home
- Thank you phone call home
Alright - that's it. Hopefully I'll have good news tomorrow. It should be since I'll finally learn how my school actually runs. Right now I'm flying blind. Goodnight!
Friday, August 18, 2006
Done with Orientation
I just got back from the last day of New Teacher Orientation. The pros of orientation were:
Ron Clark had one funny rule: No Doritos in the Building. The whole point of this rule was just to give him an excuse to freak out about seeing Doritos to provide some laughs for the kids. It injected a little personality into his rules. Clearly I can't just use that rule, because for one, I love Doritos. So tasty! But, I think I've come up with another rule I truly believe in:
I like this rule for two reasons. One, teenage boys seem to honestly believe girls will be unable to control their passions if they spray this foul Axe or Tag on themselves, so they practically drown themselves in the stuff in the hallways and classrooms. Two, it gives me the chance to throw a pretend fit when I see a bottle and to throw it in the trashcan, thus making kids laugh.
I just read over that last paragraph, and now I'm re-thinking this idea. Am I copying Ron Clark waaay too much? I feel like a stalker. And is it funny at all to throw a kid's Axe away? I dunno - maybe I need to find a new funny rule. Or perhaps just not search for ways to steal kids' things.
Another thought I had was about decorating my room. Being a very organized person who can't stand clutter, I'm trying to avoid making my room look like the funny pages. I want it to feel very comfortable, like home. I'm going to try and clear bringing in some rugs with the cleaning staff at the school, and I'd like to have lots of live plants, since I'm fortunate enough to have a number of windows in my room. Wouldn't it be cool to grow herbs like basil and mint in my classroom? That way I can make myself some good dinners at home and even let kids take some home to their parents, as well. And it has got to be easier to keep plants than a class pet. I also wanted to bring in some personality items like my Harry Potter blanket or my Kermit the Frog talking puppet, but I would cry if those things got stolen, so I've decided against that.
Do you see how much time I'm spending thinking about all these details? As a student, I never gave any thought to the bulletin boards on the wall or the class expectations. I guess just how little kids don't realize that their teachers go home at night and don't sleep in the school building, I'm realizing that all this teaching stuff isn't instinct. Every minor thing is loaded with potential meaning and consequences and took a surprising amount of time for teachers to decide upon. I am already thoroughly convinced that teaching is the most challenging endeavor you can find. Why climb Mt. Everest when you can teach middle school?
Well I'm off to finally start planning out my units and maybe even some lessons. On a Friday night. Because I'm cool. Have a great weekend!
- Meeting lots of new teachers who are a lot like me - I'm not alone!
- Meeting lots of new teachers who aren't like me - like the Teach for America kids and the DC Fellows (a program run through American University to get certified)
- Meeting veteran teachers who have decided to switch into the DCPS system from other places like post-Katrina New Orleans
- A session about how to prevent and handle aggressive behavior
- The food was surprisingly good, and free!
- Free stuff like Harry and Rosemary Wongs' "The First Days of School", "501 Tips for Teachers" by Edward Ramsey, and some school supplies
- My free school supplies included black construction paper. What am I supposed to do with black construction paper?
- An entire day of learning what standards are and how to use them to guide planning. For those not hip on teacher language, standards are just the main things we need to teach. No one should require 5 hours of training on how to figure out what standards mean.
- I never met the other new teacher that will be at my school
Ron Clark had one funny rule: No Doritos in the Building. The whole point of this rule was just to give him an excuse to freak out about seeing Doritos to provide some laughs for the kids. It injected a little personality into his rules. Clearly I can't just use that rule, because for one, I love Doritos. So tasty! But, I think I've come up with another rule I truly believe in:
Deodorant is for armpits only. Don't you dare use body spray.
I like this rule for two reasons. One, teenage boys seem to honestly believe girls will be unable to control their passions if they spray this foul Axe or Tag on themselves, so they practically drown themselves in the stuff in the hallways and classrooms. Two, it gives me the chance to throw a pretend fit when I see a bottle and to throw it in the trashcan, thus making kids laugh.
I just read over that last paragraph, and now I'm re-thinking this idea. Am I copying Ron Clark waaay too much? I feel like a stalker. And is it funny at all to throw a kid's Axe away? I dunno - maybe I need to find a new funny rule. Or perhaps just not search for ways to steal kids' things.
Another thought I had was about decorating my room. Being a very organized person who can't stand clutter, I'm trying to avoid making my room look like the funny pages. I want it to feel very comfortable, like home. I'm going to try and clear bringing in some rugs with the cleaning staff at the school, and I'd like to have lots of live plants, since I'm fortunate enough to have a number of windows in my room. Wouldn't it be cool to grow herbs like basil and mint in my classroom? That way I can make myself some good dinners at home and even let kids take some home to their parents, as well. And it has got to be easier to keep plants than a class pet. I also wanted to bring in some personality items like my Harry Potter blanket or my Kermit the Frog talking puppet, but I would cry if those things got stolen, so I've decided against that.
Do you see how much time I'm spending thinking about all these details? As a student, I never gave any thought to the bulletin boards on the wall or the class expectations. I guess just how little kids don't realize that their teachers go home at night and don't sleep in the school building, I'm realizing that all this teaching stuff isn't instinct. Every minor thing is loaded with potential meaning and consequences and took a surprising amount of time for teachers to decide upon. I am already thoroughly convinced that teaching is the most challenging endeavor you can find. Why climb Mt. Everest when you can teach middle school?
Well I'm off to finally start planning out my units and maybe even some lessons. On a Friday night. Because I'm cool. Have a great weekend!
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Welcome to DC Public Schools...
But first, welcome to my blog! Please allow me to introduce myself and explain why I've decided to keep this thing in the first place.
I was born and raised in suburban Maryland and just graduated from college in May, 2006 with a degree in science education. I student taught very gifted students my last semester and had the time of my life. I love teaching! I love the craft of developing lesson plans and assessing student understanding. I love the instant gratification when a student learns something you shared with them. I love the challenge and adventure of this job. Or at least I did last semester.
Having failed to find a job in Maryland at a school similar to the ones I attended, I decided to take an offer in Southeast DC. For those who may not be familiar with DC, let me explain. The city is divided into four quadrants relative to the Capitol building in the center: NW, SW, NE, and SE. NW is the the richest. SE is the poorest. SE is then further split by the Anacostia River (the most polluted river in the country, by the way) running diagonally through it, cutting off the most southeastern corner from the rest of the city. This is Southeast proper - East of the River. I remember Chris Rock once saying something along the lines of, "The part of DC where you can get shot while being shot." But that's only what I've heard. I myself have zero experience with the area except for the two times I've driven to my new school.
First year teaching, by all accounts, is supposed to be the toughest challenge any individual can undertake. It is therefore easy for me to assume that my job in SE DC is going to be difficult to the extreme. I have started this blog to help me with this challenge and perhaps help others going through similar situations. Reading another first-year teacher's blog was what convinced me I could take the job in DC in the first place, so I feel like I need to give back to the first-year teaching community. Also, if I ever want lots of advice on a topic, I can just ask my readers!
Let me start with this. I am an excellent teacher. Really. I can proudly say that I did an excellent job student teaching. I worked those kids to the bone but they took it all in and learned so much. I was so impressed with the work they turned into me and the respect they showed me. Plus, they liked me and I liked them.
I'm done bragging now. Because as quickly as I convince myself I was a great student teacher, I remind myself that this student population will be a wholly different experience. I'm switching from all gifted students to 1/3 of my students being special education. I have no idea what this is going to mean for me. I'm kind of freaking out. Minus the kind of.
Here's what I've done so far. I've decided to put full trust in experienced teachers who have had success instead of me just experimenting. At least at first. I get the feeling that I need to have these kids locked down and respecting me as an authority figure from day 1 and I don't want to screw that up at all. So which experienced teachers am I trusting? Well Matthew Perry from the TNT movie, "The Ron Clark Story", which I happened to catch on TV 4 days ago, of course. No, actually, I'm not that flighty. And I wasn't that impressed with the movie. I was genuinely impressed with the idea of using rules and manners as the entire basis for an effective classroom culture, though. I went to the bookstore, bought the book "The Essential 55" by Ron Clark, and read it all that night taking notes. I loved it! It made so much sense to me to make manners enforceable rules to ensure order in the classroom and to simultaneously teach students necessary skills for a lifetime. So, I took Ron Clark's 55 rules, and boiled them down to 14 Manners and 13 Class Expectations. I also bought a book called "Positive Classroom Management" by Breeden and Egan that I used to develop my spiffy new hierarchy of punishments and rewards for breaking or keeping my rules. If anyone is interested, I'll post these things.
I have two questions for the viewing public, especially any veteran teachers.
1) Is it as good an idea to make the students always answer, "Yes, ma'am" or "No, Ms. DC Newbie" as I think it is? I excitedly told my mom and boyfriend, 'I've decided I'm going to make the kids call me ma'am!" and both looked at me like I'd lost my mind, and pointed out I'm not a ma'am because I'm not married. I'm a very casual person, so I recognize this goes against my personality, but I thought it would instill a sense of respect for authority. Any thoughts on this, anyone?
2) Should I have all my rules posted and ready to go on Day 1 to create a sense of unwavering order and authority, or should I let the students create some of their own rules first (which I'd hope and expect would largely be the same as my pre-prepared rules anyway) to give them a sense of ownership in the classroom? Has anyone tried it both ways and found one way to be any better?
In closing, let me share why this entry is titled as such. Today was my first day of New Teacher Orientation. One presenter, a third-year teacher, started, "Welcome to DC Public Schools!" as was typical, then proceeded to ask the group who of us was teaching in SE. About half of us raised our hands. She then goes, "Mmm, good luck." And not in a hopeful, wish-you-all-the-best kind of way, mind you. She said it the same way you would say "good luck" to someone who was trying to fly to Japan aboard a paper airplane. Welcome, indeed.
I was born and raised in suburban Maryland and just graduated from college in May, 2006 with a degree in science education. I student taught very gifted students my last semester and had the time of my life. I love teaching! I love the craft of developing lesson plans and assessing student understanding. I love the instant gratification when a student learns something you shared with them. I love the challenge and adventure of this job. Or at least I did last semester.
Having failed to find a job in Maryland at a school similar to the ones I attended, I decided to take an offer in Southeast DC. For those who may not be familiar with DC, let me explain. The city is divided into four quadrants relative to the Capitol building in the center: NW, SW, NE, and SE. NW is the the richest. SE is the poorest. SE is then further split by the Anacostia River (the most polluted river in the country, by the way) running diagonally through it, cutting off the most southeastern corner from the rest of the city. This is Southeast proper - East of the River. I remember Chris Rock once saying something along the lines of, "The part of DC where you can get shot while being shot." But that's only what I've heard. I myself have zero experience with the area except for the two times I've driven to my new school.
First year teaching, by all accounts, is supposed to be the toughest challenge any individual can undertake. It is therefore easy for me to assume that my job in SE DC is going to be difficult to the extreme. I have started this blog to help me with this challenge and perhaps help others going through similar situations. Reading another first-year teacher's blog was what convinced me I could take the job in DC in the first place, so I feel like I need to give back to the first-year teaching community. Also, if I ever want lots of advice on a topic, I can just ask my readers!
Let me start with this. I am an excellent teacher. Really. I can proudly say that I did an excellent job student teaching. I worked those kids to the bone but they took it all in and learned so much. I was so impressed with the work they turned into me and the respect they showed me. Plus, they liked me and I liked them.
I'm done bragging now. Because as quickly as I convince myself I was a great student teacher, I remind myself that this student population will be a wholly different experience. I'm switching from all gifted students to 1/3 of my students being special education. I have no idea what this is going to mean for me. I'm kind of freaking out. Minus the kind of.
Here's what I've done so far. I've decided to put full trust in experienced teachers who have had success instead of me just experimenting. At least at first. I get the feeling that I need to have these kids locked down and respecting me as an authority figure from day 1 and I don't want to screw that up at all. So which experienced teachers am I trusting? Well Matthew Perry from the TNT movie, "The Ron Clark Story", which I happened to catch on TV 4 days ago, of course. No, actually, I'm not that flighty. And I wasn't that impressed with the movie. I was genuinely impressed with the idea of using rules and manners as the entire basis for an effective classroom culture, though. I went to the bookstore, bought the book "The Essential 55" by Ron Clark, and read it all that night taking notes. I loved it! It made so much sense to me to make manners enforceable rules to ensure order in the classroom and to simultaneously teach students necessary skills for a lifetime. So, I took Ron Clark's 55 rules, and boiled them down to 14 Manners and 13 Class Expectations. I also bought a book called "Positive Classroom Management" by Breeden and Egan that I used to develop my spiffy new hierarchy of punishments and rewards for breaking or keeping my rules. If anyone is interested, I'll post these things.
I have two questions for the viewing public, especially any veteran teachers.
1) Is it as good an idea to make the students always answer, "Yes, ma'am" or "No, Ms. DC Newbie" as I think it is? I excitedly told my mom and boyfriend, 'I've decided I'm going to make the kids call me ma'am!" and both looked at me like I'd lost my mind, and pointed out I'm not a ma'am because I'm not married. I'm a very casual person, so I recognize this goes against my personality, but I thought it would instill a sense of respect for authority. Any thoughts on this, anyone?
2) Should I have all my rules posted and ready to go on Day 1 to create a sense of unwavering order and authority, or should I let the students create some of their own rules first (which I'd hope and expect would largely be the same as my pre-prepared rules anyway) to give them a sense of ownership in the classroom? Has anyone tried it both ways and found one way to be any better?
In closing, let me share why this entry is titled as such. Today was my first day of New Teacher Orientation. One presenter, a third-year teacher, started, "Welcome to DC Public Schools!" as was typical, then proceeded to ask the group who of us was teaching in SE. About half of us raised our hands. She then goes, "Mmm, good luck." And not in a hopeful, wish-you-all-the-best kind of way, mind you. She said it the same way you would say "good luck" to someone who was trying to fly to Japan aboard a paper airplane. Welcome, indeed.
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