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.