Last Week of School

It is now the last week of my first year of school.  I have learned a lot this year about teaching, learning, and organizing.

1.  Students are very different in different class settings, with different teachers & teaching styles, and different classmates.  For example, I have one student who is an "angel" in his social studies class.  In that class their are very few students that he is in cahoots with and he enjoy the subject matter.  I have also seen him in my class and his regular math class and he is a dramatically different person.  He is loud, argumentative, and often leaves work incomplete.  In both of these classes, however, he has many friends.  Now I wonder to myself why this student acts so differently... is it the subject/topics, is it that he has more friends in his other class, or maybe it is our teaching styles?

2. Teachers are gossipers.  I don't like to talk behind people's back - if it is important enough to talk about it at all - talk to them.  But teacher do gossip and definitely "snitch" on each other.  There are just some teachers who you cannot trust - they will go behind your back with the information.  This is normal, though, teachers must know their friends and know who to (and not to) trust.

3.  Organization is HUGE.  If a teacher can remained organized they will make their life much more simple.

4.  It is imperative to know what rules and expectations you have for your students and stick to them.  My expectations and rules at the beginning of the year and end of the year changed in a dramatic way.  Next year, though, i am far more prepared to make expectations & rules on the first day of class.

5. Always have lessons planned out at least a week.  This includes having emergency sub plans in case of an emergency.  By planning out I was able to adjust from class to class more easily.

6. Keep notes about EVERYTHING.  Parental contact, student detentions, student referrals, and even major behavioral issues.  From a suggestion of a co-worker I have a "CMA" (Cover My Ass) binder with all of this information.  It has helped me in situations where parents have issues or say, "I was never told.... I didn't know"

With the upcoming summer I will update more with lesson plans, ideas for the first weeks, and last weeks, and so on! Stay tuned.

The Life of a Traveling Teacher...

I am a traveling teacher - a FLOATER if you will.  Though I prefer to be called an educator who covers ground.

Not only is it my first year but i am lucky enough to be a floater.  To catch you up quickly let me explain, I have:

• No classroom of my own - I use others during their free periods
• No desk of my own - I use two cardboard boxes in the back of another room
• No filing cabinet or storage of my own - Though one teacher I share a room with shares her cabinets if I really need it and would most likely do it more often, but I feel bad taking her space.
• No computer to call my own 

Having no classroom is not too big of a deal for me.  Honestly, as a first year teacher it's bittersweet.  I enjoyed not having to figure out how to set up the room but, at the same time, I wish I could set the room up how I want it.  The hardest part is having the student's folders with me for grading and for them to use in class.  At the beginning of the school year I had a very hard time with this but worked it out by October.  Two small filing bins from Staples... one in each room I teach in for those students' folders.  So I have learned organizational skills this year. The combination of no classroom, desk, or filing cabinet has also taught me how to be organized.  I have no space to stuff away papers or work.  It's been difficult to keep students information together and organized without having some sort of organization storage. 

Overall, I do think being a traveling teacher in my first year is making this year even more tough I do appreciate the things that I have learned from it.  I have learned a bit about how different teachers organize their own rooms, how they deal with behavior issues, and how to keep my own files and information organized. 

MORE TO COME!

Half-Year Reflection on First year...

As a first year teacher I began the school year with the feeling that "I can change the world" - "I can be the best teacher in this subject, school, district and state!" - "I will be able to change the lives of students, at least one!"  Now that this school year is half over I just hope to be able to take my interview response as truth.

Interviewer, principal, "Why are you the BEST person for this job?"
Me, "Well, honestly, I think I am the best because being the best requires that you know you're never the best that you can be.  It's important to me to continually improve my practice and reflect on my teaching.  If I continue to do this then I will improve and being my journey to being the best for me and for the job"

As proof of my steps towards becoming the best I have just started my PhD program.  It is focused on curriculum and instruction design.  I believe it is imperative that a teacher has a good curriculum and is able to appropriately instruct students.  I do not believe each teacher needs to design their own curriculum but they must have an effective and strong curriculum to fall back on.

More so, I believe that the first year is the BEST year because I am continually learning and everything is still new.  Ten years from now I may be a better teacher but many things I do in my classroom will have been done by me in the past.