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...
Monday, November 10, 2008
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 :)
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Life Doesn't Hand You Do-Overs.
But sometimes I wish it would.
Can I go back to 3 weeks ago and start over? I did the exact thing I knew I would do and the #1 thing I wanted to avoid: I started off too easy and thus am struggling to rein it back it.
I know that every class has a different chemistry, and things that work for one class won't work for another. So why did I completely ignore that fact when it came to management? I guess I wanted to be consistent and fair. But "fair" does not mean "the same"... something I am also aware of. My 2nd block is about 3 steps from being out of control, and my 4th block is almost right behind them. So I will be experimenting with my "no nonsense Ms. Steer-itude" this week. And because I don't want to create 4 preps for myself, my 3 other classes will have to deal with it.
I am the youngest teacher at my school by AT LEAST 5 years, which puts me in a personal predicament. I want to be the hip, fun teacher that challenges her students, makes them think, and makes them like history. (Isn't that every teacher's dream???) So how do I make it my reality? How do I really transpose my love of history onto my students? Or how to I entertain and challenge them with history-related material for 60 minutes every day?
I have to keep reminding myself that teaching is a process and a journey. I won't be perfect this year, next year, or ever. But I can only work towards being better every day.
I love Sundays because they become my mental-health-education-philosophy-and-spirituality days. I feel refreshed. :)
Can I go back to 3 weeks ago and start over? I did the exact thing I knew I would do and the #1 thing I wanted to avoid: I started off too easy and thus am struggling to rein it back it.
I know that every class has a different chemistry, and things that work for one class won't work for another. So why did I completely ignore that fact when it came to management? I guess I wanted to be consistent and fair. But "fair" does not mean "the same"... something I am also aware of. My 2nd block is about 3 steps from being out of control, and my 4th block is almost right behind them. So I will be experimenting with my "no nonsense Ms. Steer-itude" this week. And because I don't want to create 4 preps for myself, my 3 other classes will have to deal with it.
I am the youngest teacher at my school by AT LEAST 5 years, which puts me in a personal predicament. I want to be the hip, fun teacher that challenges her students, makes them think, and makes them like history. (Isn't that every teacher's dream???) So how do I make it my reality? How do I really transpose my love of history onto my students? Or how to I entertain and challenge them with history-related material for 60 minutes every day?
I have to keep reminding myself that teaching is a process and a journey. I won't be perfect this year, next year, or ever. But I can only work towards being better every day.
I love Sundays because they become my mental-health-education-philosophy-and-spirituality days. I feel refreshed. :)
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