It's hard to believe I've been teaching for one month. In retrospect it feels like less than a few days. In practice, it feels epic.
I still don't think I have a good grasp of the reality of me being a teacher yet. It's very surreal. It's like I don't believe I'm a real teacher.
There are a lot of jobs where you can sit behind your desk or stand behind a counter and not really do much all day. Interaction with people can be pretty limited in jobs like that. While there are a TON of crazy things that can happen being a teacher (and remember this is only from one month of experience), it's still a very invigorating (?) job. I go into class prepared as can be, but I also go in prepared to manage the craziest events I can imagine. I guess in that way, it's sort of a rush.
I gave my first unit test yesterday. Most of my students failed. Many didn't even show. I completely expected both. Those who did pass are the ones that show up everyday and ready to work. Good for them. Those who did not pass were the ones who mess around during class, interrupt the lesson or only show up sporadically and late. Good for them too. Hopefully they will see that failure is a result of their behavior. Although, I am aware that I have to connect the cause-effect relationship of hard work and success for them as they are unable to do it independently.
I fully expect my students to improve their grades. From what I hear, the first two tests are pretty awful. It was quite disheartening to see the Scantron sheets shoot through the reader with such low percentages printed in dot matrix red ink. I was actually amazed to see one student actually get 100%. I still need to check it to be sure. I guess since most of the questions were multiple choice, anything above a 25% is better than guessing. Anything below that and it must have been just bad chance or they were trying to fail.
One step at a time I guess. For now I'll enjoy my time off next week.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Fight #2 + Seizure
Yesterday I was having a great day. Many of my students were enjoying the literacy lesson plan about genetic engineering that I had devised for them. I had them list foods they had eaten for the Do Now, then we went through them one by one identifying each food as living at some point, be it wheat in bread, beef in hamburgers, tomatoes in tomato sauce, etc. This was a great segue into a discussion about genetically modified foods. I passed out an article about genetically modified beef. A guided reading addressed different words in the article they did not understand and led into a great Q&A session about genetics, GMOs and their safety. Everything was going smoothly as ever.
Then, as my 9th period rolls around, only 3 students were actually on time. Many of the others were coming from their gym class, which I believe is on another floor in the building, so they have to hike up quite a few flights to get there on time. A few moments later, I had a few more students and most had begun the Do Now activity. One of my most disruptive students popped her head in the door and spoke loudly to some other student. I approached her and instructed her to come in, take her seat and begin the Do Now. She immediately left the door and went back into the hallway.
Moments later I hear someone yelling to get security. After yesterday, my phone had been destroyed. I do not know how as it did not occur in my presence, but it looked like someone took it off the hook and banged it against the wall. The handset was in two pieces. I tried earlier that morning to get someone to fix it to no avail (figures).
I yelled across the hall to another teacher to call 711, our version of 911 in the school. Seconds later, I was yelling at my students to get back into the classroom. They were yelling at me to "help her." My most disruptive student who had earlier popped her head in the door and left was now laying on the floor in the hallway convulsing - yes, having a seizure. I am guessing it was induced by another student who was being physically violent with her, who was supposed to be in my class also. I made sure that they were both marked absent on my attendance sheet. (CYA).
I had my AP, another AP from a different academy in my building, the whole security staff, two other academy coordinators and various teachers all involved. This was surreal and incredibly stressful. I fully expect my principal to have me in his office on Monday.
After the convulsing students was taken to the hospital and the other girl was detained my school safety, I was trying to manage all the highly disturbed students in my classroom. They were all very upset and became combative when I was asking for their cooperation. Two of them began to argue, which I successful tried to de-escalate. Before I knew it, I had School Safety Agents in my room again and they were removed. I did not prompt the removal, it was the safety agents that came in upon their own accord.
The AP from the academy came in and had a talk with the students. It filled pretty much the whole period. I stood their and watched. In last 15 minutes, I salvaged whatever I had left of a lesson. The AP left before the end. I kept my students on task for the next 10 minutes, but in the last five minutes of their last period on a Friday, they began to become more talkative about what happened. To pull them back in at least for the last few minutes, I had them turn over their agendas and on an exit slip write two things about what happened during the earlier incident. I got some interesting responses. "'student a' was slam 'student b's head into the floor."
I just can't believe all day, everything goes SO well, then in the last 47 minutes, it could not have been any crazier. Good thing there are metal detectors or I'm sure someone would be killed by now. What a fucking fiasco.
Then, as my 9th period rolls around, only 3 students were actually on time. Many of the others were coming from their gym class, which I believe is on another floor in the building, so they have to hike up quite a few flights to get there on time. A few moments later, I had a few more students and most had begun the Do Now activity. One of my most disruptive students popped her head in the door and spoke loudly to some other student. I approached her and instructed her to come in, take her seat and begin the Do Now. She immediately left the door and went back into the hallway.
Moments later I hear someone yelling to get security. After yesterday, my phone had been destroyed. I do not know how as it did not occur in my presence, but it looked like someone took it off the hook and banged it against the wall. The handset was in two pieces. I tried earlier that morning to get someone to fix it to no avail (figures).
I yelled across the hall to another teacher to call 711, our version of 911 in the school. Seconds later, I was yelling at my students to get back into the classroom. They were yelling at me to "help her." My most disruptive student who had earlier popped her head in the door and left was now laying on the floor in the hallway convulsing - yes, having a seizure. I am guessing it was induced by another student who was being physically violent with her, who was supposed to be in my class also. I made sure that they were both marked absent on my attendance sheet. (CYA).
I had my AP, another AP from a different academy in my building, the whole security staff, two other academy coordinators and various teachers all involved. This was surreal and incredibly stressful. I fully expect my principal to have me in his office on Monday.
After the convulsing students was taken to the hospital and the other girl was detained my school safety, I was trying to manage all the highly disturbed students in my classroom. They were all very upset and became combative when I was asking for their cooperation. Two of them began to argue, which I successful tried to de-escalate. Before I knew it, I had School Safety Agents in my room again and they were removed. I did not prompt the removal, it was the safety agents that came in upon their own accord.
The AP from the academy came in and had a talk with the students. It filled pretty much the whole period. I stood their and watched. In last 15 minutes, I salvaged whatever I had left of a lesson. The AP left before the end. I kept my students on task for the next 10 minutes, but in the last five minutes of their last period on a Friday, they began to become more talkative about what happened. To pull them back in at least for the last few minutes, I had them turn over their agendas and on an exit slip write two things about what happened during the earlier incident. I got some interesting responses. "'student a' was slam 'student b's head into the floor."
I just can't believe all day, everything goes SO well, then in the last 47 minutes, it could not have been any crazier. Good thing there are metal detectors or I'm sure someone would be killed by now. What a fucking fiasco.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Fight #1
I don't begin teaching until 4th period (there are nine in a day). Today, I had my lesson plan on bar graphs and line graphs prepared with some guided modeling of the activity and independent practice. The activity was going very well in my first class of the day. Everyone was paying attention, taking good notes, and getting their work done accurately and efficiently.
Just before the last ten minutes of class, a student asked me to use the restroom. He returned about 5 minutes later. When he walked in, he said something to another student in the class like, "she's mine (fine?)" or something to that effect. The student to whom he was speaking stood up calmly then took about a step and a half forward. At this point, he took one of the desks and flipped it a few feet in the air and it fell to the ground, at which point he charged the student that returned from the bathroom.
They commenced beating the living shit out each other. A few desks were pushed around as the two wrestled and punched each other on the floor. The two fighting are the only two sophomores in the class and the rest are freshmen. The other students mostly stood back and watched in awe with maybe one or two egging them on.
The desk flip was my cue to pick up the phone and call School Safety (ext 711, kinda like 911 teacher-style). After I did that, I partially stepped into the hall and yelled for school safety several times. Within 30 seconds I had the school safety agent assigned to the floor in my room trying to separate them. The middle-aged African American female school safety officer was unable to dislodge the two boys. She radioed for assistance. Another 30 seconds, I had two more, then eight, then 12 school safety agents (I think most in the building) in my room. I instructed all the other students to stand back. At some point, two deans were also in the room with I think maybe another teacher or two.
One students was removed and taken in the elevator with about 4 safety agents, the rest of which remained in my room. The second student was removed by school safety moments later. A dean, with whom I've worked before, politely informed me he would need me to write out the situation. I told him I'd be free 7th period and walked back into my classroom.
I firmly instructed the rest of the class to take their seats and to give me their worksheets (with 2 minutes of class to spare). The bell rang and I instructed them not to leave yet. I told them to hand in their worksheets if they had not done so already, to complete their exit slips and put the desks back in their original position. I replaced the desk that had been launched.
I gathered my things and headed to my next period.
Expecting fights and being the person of authority in one are two VERY different things. Luckily I've dealt with high-intensity situations before, so my gut immediate response it usually appropriate. My adrenaline was definitely through the roof though.
As strange and as twisted it may sound, managing a situation like that is MUCH easier than managing a class that is moderately disruptive to whole period. The problem is so big, it progresses out of my jurisdiction at which point I just pick up the phone and it dissipates in a few minutes. It's a default response where I am no longer responsible. Managing less intense classroom management problems is a far more daunting challenge. That one is persistent and falls mostly on me.
I've never seen a fist fight before. I guess this is a first. At least, now I know I can handle it.
Just before the last ten minutes of class, a student asked me to use the restroom. He returned about 5 minutes later. When he walked in, he said something to another student in the class like, "she's mine (fine?)" or something to that effect. The student to whom he was speaking stood up calmly then took about a step and a half forward. At this point, he took one of the desks and flipped it a few feet in the air and it fell to the ground, at which point he charged the student that returned from the bathroom.
They commenced beating the living shit out each other. A few desks were pushed around as the two wrestled and punched each other on the floor. The two fighting are the only two sophomores in the class and the rest are freshmen. The other students mostly stood back and watched in awe with maybe one or two egging them on.
The desk flip was my cue to pick up the phone and call School Safety (ext 711, kinda like 911 teacher-style). After I did that, I partially stepped into the hall and yelled for school safety several times. Within 30 seconds I had the school safety agent assigned to the floor in my room trying to separate them. The middle-aged African American female school safety officer was unable to dislodge the two boys. She radioed for assistance. Another 30 seconds, I had two more, then eight, then 12 school safety agents (I think most in the building) in my room. I instructed all the other students to stand back. At some point, two deans were also in the room with I think maybe another teacher or two.
One students was removed and taken in the elevator with about 4 safety agents, the rest of which remained in my room. The second student was removed by school safety moments later. A dean, with whom I've worked before, politely informed me he would need me to write out the situation. I told him I'd be free 7th period and walked back into my classroom.
I firmly instructed the rest of the class to take their seats and to give me their worksheets (with 2 minutes of class to spare). The bell rang and I instructed them not to leave yet. I told them to hand in their worksheets if they had not done so already, to complete their exit slips and put the desks back in their original position. I replaced the desk that had been launched.
I gathered my things and headed to my next period.
Expecting fights and being the person of authority in one are two VERY different things. Luckily I've dealt with high-intensity situations before, so my gut immediate response it usually appropriate. My adrenaline was definitely through the roof though.
As strange and as twisted it may sound, managing a situation like that is MUCH easier than managing a class that is moderately disruptive to whole period. The problem is so big, it progresses out of my jurisdiction at which point I just pick up the phone and it dissipates in a few minutes. It's a default response where I am no longer responsible. Managing less intense classroom management problems is a far more daunting challenge. That one is persistent and falls mostly on me.
I've never seen a fist fight before. I guess this is a first. At least, now I know I can handle it.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Adjusting to Chaos
With the second week of teaching coming to a close, I find that I am beginning to adjust. I know what to expect when I go into my class everyday now. This is not to say I can anticipate everything of course, but I know what I'm in for.
One thing I'd like to put out there has to do with class size. You probably read that and think, "yea, you and every other teacher." I realize that teaching costs money and small classes cost money. We quantify these costs every time checks are cut to the city or to my checking out. It's a lot (well, the expense of education is alot- not my salary). To cut class sizes in half would cost somewhere around double, if not more for an initial transition period. Obviously that's a ton of money.
Let's look at this amount of money as a relative value now. Relative to the cost of our prison system, relative to the cost of law enforcement, relative to the cost of having a welfare system, relative to the cost of upkeep on our infrastructures, relative to the cost of dwindling innovation, relative to the cost of an economy that struggles to stay above water. Relative to those costs, the cost of halving the number of students in a classroom is pennies.
I realize students come from situations where their parents may do crack at home. Maybe they don't have dinner or breakfast. Maybe they have to work to support their parents. Maybe they have to watch out for their lives on a daily if not hourly basis. These things all have an influence. BUT, I am beginning to believe that a small class size would override these impediments to some degree. Managing a room full of 34 people, many of which come from less than great situations like those above, is a task that is not meant for the weak. In fact, it is hardly manageable if at all.
If one of the people who decides education policy in our governments were to be in a classroom and be expected to manage that many people of that sort, I'd bet my salary they would throw their hands in the air and give up. It is truly an overwhelming experience. On top of that, teachers are expected to have these 34 people from unfortunate backgrounds have substantial learning and achieve well. It is an unreasonable expectation.
I truly and completely believe many of our country's public school are in a full blown crisis. Teachers are given too many students to manage and therefore each student gets less quality attention. I hate admitting it, but I have no choice but to be this way with my own students. There are simply too many. If I were to give the attention I'd like to give to each and every student, I wouldn't sleep, eat, go home, nothing. I would have no time at all. Between calling parents, organizing and grading papers, recording grades, creating lesson plans and every other teaching-related task, it's simply not reasonable to have one person manage all of those things for 140 young people.
I am not asking for sympathy or a raise. I am asking policy-makers to reconsider the implications of having this educational crisis in our hands. What happens when people don't graduate high school, they can't read, they can't do basic math, use a ruler, form a sentence. We all suffer. If there is one thing I will work to achieve in education, aside from helping students-obviously, it is to reduce class sizes. It is the closest thing we can get to a silver bullet.
One thing I'd like to put out there has to do with class size. You probably read that and think, "yea, you and every other teacher." I realize that teaching costs money and small classes cost money. We quantify these costs every time checks are cut to the city or to my checking out. It's a lot (well, the expense of education is alot- not my salary). To cut class sizes in half would cost somewhere around double, if not more for an initial transition period. Obviously that's a ton of money.
Let's look at this amount of money as a relative value now. Relative to the cost of our prison system, relative to the cost of law enforcement, relative to the cost of having a welfare system, relative to the cost of upkeep on our infrastructures, relative to the cost of dwindling innovation, relative to the cost of an economy that struggles to stay above water. Relative to those costs, the cost of halving the number of students in a classroom is pennies.
I realize students come from situations where their parents may do crack at home. Maybe they don't have dinner or breakfast. Maybe they have to work to support their parents. Maybe they have to watch out for their lives on a daily if not hourly basis. These things all have an influence. BUT, I am beginning to believe that a small class size would override these impediments to some degree. Managing a room full of 34 people, many of which come from less than great situations like those above, is a task that is not meant for the weak. In fact, it is hardly manageable if at all.
If one of the people who decides education policy in our governments were to be in a classroom and be expected to manage that many people of that sort, I'd bet my salary they would throw their hands in the air and give up. It is truly an overwhelming experience. On top of that, teachers are expected to have these 34 people from unfortunate backgrounds have substantial learning and achieve well. It is an unreasonable expectation.
I truly and completely believe many of our country's public school are in a full blown crisis. Teachers are given too many students to manage and therefore each student gets less quality attention. I hate admitting it, but I have no choice but to be this way with my own students. There are simply too many. If I were to give the attention I'd like to give to each and every student, I wouldn't sleep, eat, go home, nothing. I would have no time at all. Between calling parents, organizing and grading papers, recording grades, creating lesson plans and every other teaching-related task, it's simply not reasonable to have one person manage all of those things for 140 young people.
I am not asking for sympathy or a raise. I am asking policy-makers to reconsider the implications of having this educational crisis in our hands. What happens when people don't graduate high school, they can't read, they can't do basic math, use a ruler, form a sentence. We all suffer. If there is one thing I will work to achieve in education, aside from helping students-obviously, it is to reduce class sizes. It is the closest thing we can get to a silver bullet.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
The First Week
The past four days have been a complete blur.
Day 1: No keys to anything in the school. Reviewing the syllabus and expectations with students. Planning lessons.
Day 2: Diagnostic assessment. Not much activity during the lesson for me, but damn a lot of grading.
Day 3: Igniting (not burning) a student's money with an acetone / water mix leading into a discussion about observation v. inference. They loved it.
Day 4: A slide show with pictures of people who look like scientists but aren't, and vice versa. Students learned that anyone, regardless of appearance can be a scientist.
I knew there would be a lot of papers. Somehow the true gravity of that fact did not set in until I carried them around with me. I'm already working on ways to minimize that. I also purchased a projector on eBay and used it in the slide show on Friday. Allowing them to voice their input during the slide show was great fun. They get so involved and everyone was engaged. It seems like my students are pretty visual... and talkative.
I'm somewhat dreading calling all their parents. It's a ton of students so phone calls will take quite some time. I think I should spread it over one week actually. These are the initial calls as an introduction. Hopefully they will deter students from misbehaving in the future.
I have my DOE email address setup, but I'm still trying to figure out how to route it to my iPhone. I think it may require some less than legitimate configuration.
Overall, this week has been quite stressful and required a ton of work. However, when thing are running smoothly, I love it. I know it's only the first week, but I think I've chosen the right profession.
Day 1: No keys to anything in the school. Reviewing the syllabus and expectations with students. Planning lessons.
Day 2: Diagnostic assessment. Not much activity during the lesson for me, but damn a lot of grading.
Day 3: Igniting (not burning) a student's money with an acetone / water mix leading into a discussion about observation v. inference. They loved it.
Day 4: A slide show with pictures of people who look like scientists but aren't, and vice versa. Students learned that anyone, regardless of appearance can be a scientist.
I knew there would be a lot of papers. Somehow the true gravity of that fact did not set in until I carried them around with me. I'm already working on ways to minimize that. I also purchased a projector on eBay and used it in the slide show on Friday. Allowing them to voice their input during the slide show was great fun. They get so involved and everyone was engaged. It seems like my students are pretty visual... and talkative.
I'm somewhat dreading calling all their parents. It's a ton of students so phone calls will take quite some time. I think I should spread it over one week actually. These are the initial calls as an introduction. Hopefully they will deter students from misbehaving in the future.
I have my DOE email address setup, but I'm still trying to figure out how to route it to my iPhone. I think it may require some less than legitimate configuration.
Overall, this week has been quite stressful and required a ton of work. However, when thing are running smoothly, I love it. I know it's only the first week, but I think I've chosen the right profession.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
