Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Week 2 (a long one)
I promised myself I would be better at journaling and reflecting this year. It’s the second week and I’ve posted twice, so you can see how well that’s going.
Every day on the drive in I thank God for countryside and woods, and cry because I miss Stewart. I miss planning to meet Heather at the mall with her son, or seeing Mr. Samaras in the hall, or trading jokes with Mr. Leeseberg in between classes. But comfort zone aside, I think I am doing well. The confidence I feel this year compared to last year is huge. I was afraid all the work I did planning and training this summer was going to go to waste, but it hasn’t at all. Once again planning my butt off has saved it. Starting a job on the second day of school is hard enough, I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t been organized.
My school is interesting. It seems like the problems here are flipped from problems at Stewart. There they take too many field trips; the kids are gone too often. Here things are tight and field trips are rationed. There you have to wait weeks for lamination; here the lady will do it for you while you wait. There they have tons of copy paper; here it is passed out at the beginning of the year. At Stewart my room was big and pretty with tons of supplies (which I didn’t really appreciate until now), here my room has been unloved for years and everything of value has been “relocated” by other teachers. Today I got an old lab table for the front of my room and jumped up and down I was so excited. No more podium held together by duct tape. I have a demo table. The one thing my schools have in common are a great administration. The principal is very charismatic and motivated, and the APs remind me of the ones at Stewart, like a brother and sister. The principal gave me a compliment this morning – he said I was doing a great job and that if I needed anything to ask. He was so sincere, it made me feel great. Gee, a compliment and a demo table. I’m spoiled.
My classes are also very different than at Stewart. My schedule is the same, 5 classes and 2 preps. One of the preps is spent on a duty or team meeting. The students are more of what I would consider “normal.” The open hostility just isn’t here like it was at Stewart. I’m teaching 7th grade so that might be part of it. I started the year better than I did last year. I am rehearsing the procedures and rules, taking my time getting set up, hoping to save time and frustration later.
1st period is sleepy and that’s fine with me. They are smiley and polite and creative.
2nd period is much the same way, with a few more mature characters. One wrote on his survey “I have a bad attitude and I don’t know why!” yet he is always polite to me.
5th period is honors and chatty. They are smart and on a blood sugar high. They remind me of the group I had 3rd period in Altoona – great sense of humor and very inquisitive.
6th period has inclusion kids and is the largest of my classes. They are unmotivated and talkative, but not bad.
7th period is large and has a few inclusion kids too. It’s a tough way to end the day but they are good natured as well.
The lessons I have done so far are organizational. We’ve taken learning style quizzes, set up the interactive science note book, and talked about lab safety. Tomorrow we do the metric system and Friday is the scientific method.
Did I mention I have a blackboard?
I Introduced lab safety by having my students mix two unknown chemicals – vinegar and baking soda. I think that only a few of them had ever done that before.
Every day on the drive in I thank God for countryside and woods, and cry because I miss Stewart. I miss planning to meet Heather at the mall with her son, or seeing Mr. Samaras in the hall, or trading jokes with Mr. Leeseberg in between classes. But comfort zone aside, I think I am doing well. The confidence I feel this year compared to last year is huge. I was afraid all the work I did planning and training this summer was going to go to waste, but it hasn’t at all. Once again planning my butt off has saved it. Starting a job on the second day of school is hard enough, I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t been organized.
My school is interesting. It seems like the problems here are flipped from problems at Stewart. There they take too many field trips; the kids are gone too often. Here things are tight and field trips are rationed. There you have to wait weeks for lamination; here the lady will do it for you while you wait. There they have tons of copy paper; here it is passed out at the beginning of the year. At Stewart my room was big and pretty with tons of supplies (which I didn’t really appreciate until now), here my room has been unloved for years and everything of value has been “relocated” by other teachers. Today I got an old lab table for the front of my room and jumped up and down I was so excited. No more podium held together by duct tape. I have a demo table. The one thing my schools have in common are a great administration. The principal is very charismatic and motivated, and the APs remind me of the ones at Stewart, like a brother and sister. The principal gave me a compliment this morning – he said I was doing a great job and that if I needed anything to ask. He was so sincere, it made me feel great. Gee, a compliment and a demo table. I’m spoiled.
My classes are also very different than at Stewart. My schedule is the same, 5 classes and 2 preps. One of the preps is spent on a duty or team meeting. The students are more of what I would consider “normal.” The open hostility just isn’t here like it was at Stewart. I’m teaching 7th grade so that might be part of it. I started the year better than I did last year. I am rehearsing the procedures and rules, taking my time getting set up, hoping to save time and frustration later.
1st period is sleepy and that’s fine with me. They are smiley and polite and creative.
2nd period is much the same way, with a few more mature characters. One wrote on his survey “I have a bad attitude and I don’t know why!” yet he is always polite to me.
5th period is honors and chatty. They are smart and on a blood sugar high. They remind me of the group I had 3rd period in Altoona – great sense of humor and very inquisitive.
6th period has inclusion kids and is the largest of my classes. They are unmotivated and talkative, but not bad.
7th period is large and has a few inclusion kids too. It’s a tough way to end the day but they are good natured as well.
The lessons I have done so far are organizational. We’ve taken learning style quizzes, set up the interactive science note book, and talked about lab safety. Tomorrow we do the metric system and Friday is the scientific method.
Did I mention I have a blackboard?
I Introduced lab safety by having my students mix two unknown chemicals – vinegar and baking soda. I think that only a few of them had ever done that before.
Chicklette 9:45 PM
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