Friday, September 10, 2010
September 7-10, 2010
This week was extremely challenging. My mentor teacher had a medical emergency on Monday and will no longer be able to be in the classroom. I did not find out until Tuesday morning what had happened. I was asked to take over full time, which I was planning on doing next week anyways so I wasn't too thrown off. I just didn't feel prepared to teach on Tuesday and it definetly showed. My first period of Science was a disaster, but I quickly learned from my mistakes and the remaining three periods of Science seemed to flow smoothly. Wednesday was much better. I felt way more prepared and had no problems teaching at all. I quickly became stressed and overwhelmed with the amount of work that students were turning in and the amount of things that needed to be graded and returned. On top of classes, attending extra curricular activities, and teaching full time, I found very little time to do anything. I don't know how we are supposed to fit everything in! I barely even had enough time to plan for next week. Today was the first day I had time to actually sit down and think about next week. This week, I have been struggling a lot with the seating arrangements and behavior issues. I think it is because they know that Mrs. Starkey is not here and I am the one they have to deal with. It is not so much that they are testing me because they know when its time to stop, I just think that they are not yet adjusted to the change. After several days of planning out and rethinking seating charts, I think I finally got it right! Today was the best day for behavior yet! There is still some minimal talking, but it is nearly impossible to stop all conversations. By far, today was the WORST day for homework!!! I had 18 out of my 79 students not turn in homework today! I was completely shocked. I told them that they have until Monday to turn it in, but they will lose 10 points. Also, I made sure to mention that after Monday, I will not accept it and this will never happen again. They will be sent to homework detention next time it happens. Although, I am more stressed out than I have ever been teaching wise, I am loving teaching full time. The students are treating me more like a teacher and not just a "helper." Also, I have pretty much assumed all responsibilities a teacher would. I have been grading all papers, putting them in the grade book, discussing student issues and what not. I have to admit this week has been an amazing experience. It was very unexpected, but I think that I adjusted extremely well to the situation. I hope that everything goes okay with Mrs. Starkey and that she makes a full and safe recovery!
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Great job coping this week Jennifer. You now have something very unique to talk about when you go on a job interview. This experience will help you when you get into your own classroom. Hang in there. Kathleen
ReplyDeleteI was so sorry to hear about your mentor teacher and hope she will make a full recovery...but this surely provided you with a trial by fire and it sounds as if you were up to the challenge.
ReplyDeleteOne of the advantages of teaching middle school is that since you are teaching the same subject for several periods, you do have the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. I always felt badly for my first period class....since they were always the guinea pigs. Of course, you always have to remember that each class is different and so you almost never teach in exactly the same way, even when it is effective for a particular group of students.
I'll be interested to hear what happens with the homework. I sometimes wonder if we need to think about what we assign for homework...do students have the knowledge and skills to successfully complete the homework? Is it interesting and relevant? I believe that homework can be very useful in reinforcing student learning, so we do have to discover why some students choose not to complete it.
I'm wondering....how did you finally arrive at the seating charts that worked? What data did you collect that enabled you to come up with a good plan for seating? It also sounds like you're wondering why students don't complete their homework...do you have any other wonderings?
Teaching is time consuming....it's more than just standing in the front of the classroom and delivering instruction....there is so much planning, reflection, and assessment that goes into good teaching. In the beginning, it does feel as if you hardly have time to catch your breath. It did sound, by the end of your post, as if you were making some progress with mananging to get everything done. I hope you'll tell us about what you've been teaching in science.
Sharon