The Eve of Halloween

I’m not sure if there was something strange in the air today, but it seemed that every student in each of my classes had eaten two bowls of sugar before they got to school. They were all extremely hyper and nobody wanted to listen today. In fact, I had to keep a student after class in order to discuss his attitude. This particular student has been giving me attitude for 3 days in a row about every little thing I say. When I tell him to do something, he sasses me and asks why he should complete my assignments. Well, today was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I had had enough of his attitude and I told him just that when he stayed after class. I asked him what his problem was and he certainly didn’t have an answer for that question! I told him that he needs to do what I say when I say it and without any attitude. I also told him that he needs to mind his own business because he is always so concerned with what other students are doing.

 

Having to discipline this student made me feel bad. I do not like being confrontational and I had to today. I didn’t want to be mean to him, but I had to get my point across that I’m not taking his attitude anymore. I simply don’t know what was with him today, but hopefully he’s over it come tomorrow.

Keeping up with the craziness

Things at my PDS have been so hectic that I find myself not knowing which way I’m going most days! Amidst the teaching, I’ve got to deal with distraction after distraction with students going here and there and having to miss class for this or that; it is crazy. I find it very hard to keep up with who’s going where and why they’re missing class from day to day. However, I’ve found that the chaos is okay and it is something that I’m going to have to deal with from this point on. I am starting to find serenity in the chaos as odd as that may seem and if there’s ever a day without an interruption, I feel a bit lost!

With all the craziness, things are getting a bit more intense because I am teaching two novels at the same time. I am teaching The Hobbit to my regular English 9 classes and The Hound of the Baskervilles to my English 9 Honors classes. It has been going pretty well since my mentor teacher has been helping me out a bit and I think we’re doing a great job because the students seem interested in the novels. We are allowing students to watch the videos along with the reading so as to reinforce the ideas and concepts; it seems to be working well. Having never read either of these books, teaching them certainly has proven to be a challenge, but I think I’m doing well and I really am trying my best. I am reading along with the students and I think that makes it a learning experience for all of us.

 

End of the 9 weeks rant!

The end of the first 9 weeks is rapidly approaching; it ends on Monday. I cannot believe that I’ve been teaching full-time now for 5 entire weeks and I’ve only got about 5 weeks left! With the end of the first 9 weeks grading period comes a lot of stress! I have students constantly asking me to make up work and it has begun to get frustrating! My mentor teacher and I have a strict policy that students are not to make up work during class, but rather they should come before school, at lunch, or after school. Well, our students don’t really like giving up their free time to complete missed work, so they rarely ever show up. However, they expect us to let them make their work up during class which, in essence, would put them even further behind because they’d be missing another day. I have reminded students several times that they need to do their work at the scheduled time and it seems like every new day, someone asks me to make up work during class. I have become frustrated with the situation and I’m not quite sure what should to be done. On one hand, I don’t want to fail students for missing work, but on the other, they should be responsible enough to come make their things up when we tell them to do so. I can honestly say that teachers have a lot more to deal with than I ever thought possible. I don’t know how they put up with some of the things they have to put up with! I only hope that I can figure it all out before I have my own classroom.

Good with the Bad

This week at school has been pretty tough. Two students from surrounding counties passed away this week and students at my school are taking it pretty hard. Fairmont Senior has instated 2 days this week for students to wear school colors of both Clay Batelle and Harrison County Schools in memory of the two students who passed away. The students at my school have really been showing some great support and wearing those school’s colors on the given days. However, it has come up more than once in my classes about how sad it is and how hard it is to deal with something so awful. We’ve had to have conversations with students about this tragic happening and I’ve had to try to show students that be it hard, we must move on. I think it is wonderful that my students and my school are so supportive of people that they really didn’t even know. It is so strange how communities come together in such a time when tragedy strikes, even when they’re miles apart.

Aside from the tragedy, I’m finding myself totally consumed by teaching. I have lesson plans to write, papers to grade, questions to prepare, powerpoints to create, papers to copy, and I could go on and on. However, amidst the hustle and bustle, I find that I’m loving teaching more and more each day. I really like being with students and I love being in front of the classroom teaching them. I like the conversations we have and the success that they’re showing. I also like the fact that they see me as their teacher. They don’t treat me as just a student-teacher, they actually respect me (well, most of them) and they do what I ask of them. I’m really glad that things are going well and I can’t believe that we’ve already passed midterm. I can and will finish my student teaching on a strong note and I look forward to continuing my progress.

Keeping up!

This marks the third week of my full-time teaching. So far it has been very exhausting, scary, nerve-wracking, and fun all at the same time. I have found myself being more tired than usual because I get less sleep than I should since I’m planning for all 5 classes and trying to keep up with students’ grades and new assignments. I’ve learned that it is really hard to keep up with 120 students on a daily basis! I have also been scared throughout my teaching because I’ve been very afraid of messing up! However, my mentor teacher assures me that I’m doing okay. Teaching is also nerve-wracking because when I put a lot of effort into a lesson, I suppose I expect the same from my students. However, this isn’t always the case and I find myself wanting to pull my hair out sometimes. Teaching these past 3 weeks has certainly been fun as well. I’ve had fun getting to know the students, teaching some great material, and letting them get to know me. Teaching has made me feel purposeful.

Keeping up with so many students is the thing I find most difficult. When students are absent, it is so hard to track them down to make up work. It is also hard to remember what we did and didn’t do in class on any particular day when students ask me for their work. It is so hard to remember all of their names from class to class and sometimes I find myself calling students’ names from 1^st period during 3^rd period. I can say, however, that all of this chaos is slowly starting to make sense to me. I’m finding myself becoming more organized and more experienced. I love that I’ve chosen to teach; now I simply have to learn the ropes, which is certainly not an easy task!