There is so much to be thankful for this year. In the times of economic hardship, particularly in this state, I am so so thankful to have a wonderful job that has kept me close to my wonderful family and wonderful boyfriend. While I am still itching to get to a new city, I am patiently awaiting his completion of grad school, and in the meantime am slightly spreading my wings and dabbling in my first year of teaching.
I really really needed Thanksgiving break. I returned this morning (early!), feeling rejuvinated and enthusiastic. The last few weeks have really bogged me down, and I know my students felt it. I needed the time away to clear my head and just BREATHE for a while. It's been a non-stop marathon, and I didn't know how to slow down. Now there are only 13 more school days until our next break, and I am totally revved and ready to go!
... except for some reason I can't get myself organized and on track tonight. I've been fiddling around, surfing the web and trying to find a new 9th grade textbook that I would like to use for next year.
Currently, our text is TERRIBLE. I hate it. The kids hate it. It's too wordy, hard to follow, no pictures, and honestly doesn't even say all that much. Some of my colleagues are convinced that there are no good textbooks out there that are the middle road. Apparently when it comes to 9th grade, the texts are either too difficult or too easy. But I will find one! I think I already have.
I LOVE this book. I have the larger volume with both ancient and modern world history combined into one text, thanks to M's generosity. I use it to supplement my horrible textbook all the time, and I am in love. It has great information that is detailed without getting unecessarily in depth; it has a variety of text features for the students to analyze (pictures, graphs, primary source excerpts, timelines, etc), and it is organized in an easy to follow way. This is my pick for 2008-2009. Will my colleagues go for it?? Stay tuned...
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Quick Update
Hello all,
Well, the year is just flying by for me, as I am sure it is for all of you as well! I cannot believe we are just 2 weeks from Thanksgiving break.
I feel that my planning and instruction have been very disorganized this year... my alignment is just not quite fitting correctly. Not enough for my taste, anyway. I wonder if this is a 1st year thing, or maybe my stuff never aligned last year either?? Anyway, I need to be more dedicated to making sure that I properly backward design. I wonder if because I work in a private school without any "official" standards that I tend to forgo the traditional "start with the standards" technique I was taught and used (rather effectively, I thought) last year.
I am loving my kids though. I feel like I'm making deeper personal connections every day with them, which is so exciting for me. I'm connecting much more than I did last year during student teaching; maybe because I have my own classroom, and I started from the beginning? Maybe because I'm so much younger than all of the other teachers at school? Who knows. I've also been getting lots of compliments by different faculty members saying that their students rave about my class. Again, is this because I'm a new teacher? Or because my class is run rather openly without extreme structure that these kids are used to? Or because I'm actually challenging them academically? Who knows.
I don't miss MAC, but I do miss the people and the professors. I'm feeling nostalgic lately...
Well, the year is just flying by for me, as I am sure it is for all of you as well! I cannot believe we are just 2 weeks from Thanksgiving break.
I feel that my planning and instruction have been very disorganized this year... my alignment is just not quite fitting correctly. Not enough for my taste, anyway. I wonder if this is a 1st year thing, or maybe my stuff never aligned last year either?? Anyway, I need to be more dedicated to making sure that I properly backward design. I wonder if because I work in a private school without any "official" standards that I tend to forgo the traditional "start with the standards" technique I was taught and used (rather effectively, I thought) last year.
I am loving my kids though. I feel like I'm making deeper personal connections every day with them, which is so exciting for me. I'm connecting much more than I did last year during student teaching; maybe because I have my own classroom, and I started from the beginning? Maybe because I'm so much younger than all of the other teachers at school? Who knows. I've also been getting lots of compliments by different faculty members saying that their students rave about my class. Again, is this because I'm a new teacher? Or because my class is run rather openly without extreme structure that these kids are used to? Or because I'm actually challenging them academically? Who knows.
I don't miss MAC, but I do miss the people and the professors. I'm feeling nostalgic lately...
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Holy crap it's almost November.
Lolo's most recent blogpost has got me thinking about the type of teacher I am becoming after having been at my school for almost 2 whole months.
I think I'm developing a bit of intolerance towards some of my students. Because the atmosphere at school tries so hard to promote personal responsibility within the students (good), I think that hearing so many teachers' opinions about not allowing students to turn in late work, or purposely making tests extremely hard to "test" students' attention to detail is starting to make me have not only unreal but also unfair expectations of my students.
It's not that I go out of my way to prevent my students from excelling in my class. I make myself available before school and during lunch every day to meet with students if they need extra help or want to talk about preparing for an upcoming test. And I try to develop personal relationships with my students by making time every day to have personal conversations with as many of them as I can.
But I haven't been very diligent about touching base with my students when I notice that they are slipping. Because they are DCD students, they should be "personally responsible for their own actions and mistakes". A good message, no? So how does that transfer to "If they don't turn it in, it's not problem"? Why am I catching myself developing this ideology about my students?
I think I just need to be more dedicated to being more visible and available. I also need to remember that kids are kids, especially 14 year old freshmen. They are going to forget their homework, and they're going to get caught up in HS drama and extracurriculars, and sometimes they won't get their work done. I just need to find that balance between empathy and expectations. Help finding that line would be much appreciated :)
I think I'm developing a bit of intolerance towards some of my students. Because the atmosphere at school tries so hard to promote personal responsibility within the students (good), I think that hearing so many teachers' opinions about not allowing students to turn in late work, or purposely making tests extremely hard to "test" students' attention to detail is starting to make me have not only unreal but also unfair expectations of my students.
It's not that I go out of my way to prevent my students from excelling in my class. I make myself available before school and during lunch every day to meet with students if they need extra help or want to talk about preparing for an upcoming test. And I try to develop personal relationships with my students by making time every day to have personal conversations with as many of them as I can.
But I haven't been very diligent about touching base with my students when I notice that they are slipping. Because they are DCD students, they should be "personally responsible for their own actions and mistakes". A good message, no? So how does that transfer to "If they don't turn it in, it's not problem"? Why am I catching myself developing this ideology about my students?
I think I just need to be more dedicated to being more visible and available. I also need to remember that kids are kids, especially 14 year old freshmen. They are going to forget their homework, and they're going to get caught up in HS drama and extracurriculars, and sometimes they won't get their work done. I just need to find that balance between empathy and expectations. Help finding that line would be much appreciated :)
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