Teacher's Diary

Updates

Today was one of those slightly off days, with both good and bad. On the good side, Adam is off suspension and back in class. On the bad side, he's already causing teachers grief again. On the good side, I'm learning how to handle individual students. On the bad side, I have one student boasting that he can get away with murder because I don't call home (although I did call home today and will do so again tomorrow). I'm settling into a routine, but that routine does not involve very much sleep.

It's only been three weeks so far and already I live for the weekend. This job is certainly not for the weak. Now the cold, dark days of winter are setting in and the kids are starting to test their limits with the new teacher.

Especially in advisory, I need to remake my image. I need to be less of a friend and more of a disciplinarian, otherwise I'm going to continue to have problems. The other teacher who is supposed to share responsibility for my advisory is doing nothing and I need to face the facts: she's never going to do anything. I need to take charge and get it done, even though it means I will be giving myself more work in the process. I need to turn up the heat in my classes - these kids can and will do more.

On top of that, I hope to get more sleep...like that's ever going to happen...

5 Things Non-Teachers Should Know About Teaching

Becoming a teacher has not been an entirely easy transition for me, since I thought for many years that I would be going into research. But it seems it has been an even harder transition for my relatives and friends to fathom. Most have been very understanding, but some have questioned my sanity. If you are dealing with a similar situation, keep in mind these facts about teaching.

1. It's not as easy as it looks.

We've all heard the saying "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." In fact, as a teacher, you come to understand that you must be far more capable than your "doing" counterparts. In order to do research you have to understand the problem, but in order to teach, you have to understand and be able to explain it to kids who have a much lower threshold for understanding. On top of that, you have to monitor behavior and assess how much your students are getting from your lesson. If you are at a high-need school, like I am, you are probably also running clubs during your lunch hour, counseling students with extreme problems and tutoring. With all those balls to juggle, many teachers wish they had a few extra arms.

2. We don't actually get off at 3pm and those summers are necessary.

The fact that school ends at 3pm does not mean that we are done at that time. I find myself getting excited if I'm ready to leave by 5pm after cleaning up the classroom, getting ready for the next day and gathering my thoughts. Sure, some of the veteran teachers leave soon after the students, but even they have grading and planning to do when they get home. Our work follows even to sleep, as we toss and turn, asking ourselves how we are going to explain plate tectonics to Jimmy, who still doesn't understand latitude.

After several months of this, many teachers are ready to tie a noose. But we struggle through (or so I've heard) and make it to June. We would go crazy if required to teach year round, so please don't envy us our 3 month break until you have dealt with our work year.

3. We talk about our students all the time because we care.

The constant talk of my students has certainly glazed many eyes, even in my short career. For those dealing with teachers, please understand that we are not trying to bore you. It's just that our work follows us everywhere. These aren't numbers on a page we're talking about here, but actual, living, breathing human beings. They are funny and wise and infuriating - we end up caring about them and we share their stories because we want you to care too.

4. We don't sleep much, so bear with our crankiness.

As per my last post, teachers get very little sleep during the school week. On top of that, we must constantly be positive and peppy in class - students pick up on a teacher's off-day in seconds and capitalize with all kinds of trouble. So when we get home, we are exhausted and sick of pretending to be full of energy. We don't mean to snap and it certainly isn't you, just bear with us. We'll be nice and cheerful all summer, we promise.

5. Hard as it is, teaching is one of the most rewarding professions that exists.

As my day with Anne can attest, teaching can be extremely rewarding. That's why we put so much focus and time into making our classrooms a success. Sure, other professions are rewarding, but teaching has the immediate gratification of seeing a lesson absorbed and digested (or the immediate despair of seeing a lesson torn apart). Seeing the transformation of students over the course of the year is what keeps us going. I haven't even been teaching a full year and I already crave those "breakthrough moments." So share our joy when those moments happen - they are not an everyday occurrence.

Why Teachers Love Long Weekends

Today I woke up late and didn't have to rush into the shower to make it to work in time. Most teachers seem to agree that long weekends are necessary every now and then just to make it through the year, and I am certainly one of them. Here's what I did on my long weekend to recover enough for work on Tuesday:

1. Caught up on sleep.

Dealing with 100 kids a day on 4-5 hours of sleep is taxing for anyone. Add to that being a first year teacher, meaning that I have to develop each lesson from scratch and am still reeling each evening under the weight of the problems I encounter. Plus I'm a grad student, so two nights a week I go to class after work. Sleeping in this weekend was absolutely a must.

2. Went out with staff from school.

This weekend was the first chance I had to relax with the other teachers from school at a bar near the building. It was nice to see everyone in a different setting, although pretty much all we talked about was school, kids, teaching strategies...still, it was good bonding time and I hope it will be repeated soon.

3. Got to celebrate my birthday.

After almost a week, I was able to celebrate my birthday, which had been swept under the table in the wake of grading and lesson planning. On top of the birthday drinks offered by my colleagues on Friday night (I actually share a birthday with another teacher at school), my family came to visit and we went to see Jude Law in Hamlet. They even wrapped up my gifts - mostly school related - and got me a cake! It was a relaxed, but much-needed celebration.

4. Talked to non-teachers.

I'm finding more and more that my contacts are teachers and that I keep in touch with fewer and fewer of my other friends. I'm just too busy, plus many people roll their eyes when I go on for hours about what so-and-so did in class. Better to stick with people who understand. But this weekend, I made time for some of my other friends, even if it was only on the phone, and it was refreshing to talk about the world outside the classroom.

5. Worked, of course.

Although much of the weekend was spent recuperating and doing necessary household chores, I also did have a lot of work to do. But the great thing about long weekends is that it gives you more leeway in terms of how much time you have to spend lesson planning each day. I still have a lot to do today, but I'm definitely more relaxed and rested, so I will be more efficient.

Tomorrow, it's back to the kids and I feel almost ready. Plus there's another long weekend coming up...

The Breakthrough Moment

One of the things teachers live for is that moment when the light bulb goes on above a student's head. The eyes lose their dull look and brighten with recognition and understanding. It validates everything the teacher has been doing.

A step above that is when a mediocre or dismal student suddenly discovers a love of learning. It was my mission to convince as many of my students as possible that science and learning in general were worth it. Now, only three weeks in, I've had my first big breakthrough.

Anne was one of the more talkative students in one of my worst classes. She didn't seem to care much about being in school and it was well-known that she would cut class to get high in the park nearby. She got suspended in the second week for getting in a fight with another girl during lunch. I had a feeling she was going to be one of my most difficult students.

While she was on in-school suspension, I sent work for her to complete in the detention room. She did the work and turned it in. When I graded it, I saw she had done a perfect job on one sheet and she had gotten a 6/7 on the quiz I gave out. Her second day back from suspension, I was turning these papers back and heard her announcing that she was sure she had failed.

When I handed her the two papers, she glanced over them, then looked harder. "Seriously?" she exclaimed. She smiled.

For the rest of class, she was involved in class. She raised her hand more than once to answer questions and I even caught her correcting someone else's mistake. As she was leaving, I thanked her for her work in class that day and she disappeared down the hall.

I didn't want to let such a change go, so I asked her advisor to call home and tell Anne's mother about her good work in science class. Her advisor cringed when I first mentioned her name, then grew excited to hear the news. "Great," she said. "I just called home with bad news from her other classes, so this will be good."

Friday was my next class with Anne and it was as if she was a completely different student. Although her loud and sometimes rude personality had not changed, she was now channeling it with all her might into science. Her hand was high in the air for every question I asked, and she was right most of the time. For the few answers she didn't know right away, she frantically leafed through her notebook, glancing up every now and then as if begging me not to call on anyone else until she had found the answer. It was absolutely incredible to watch.

As if this wasn't enough, at the end of the period, she approached me with a page of writing.

"Miss," she said, "can you look at this and see if I'm on the right track?"

I looked at it in shock. A few days before, I had assigned them an essay, which was due the following week. In my hand, I held Anne's first draft, complete with a list of references and arrows indicating where she felt she needed more information. I stammered out a "yes, this looks very good." It was all I could manage.

I told her advisor about this second day of incredible effort and she promised to call home again. While I don't want to give my friend too much work, I know that this interest could slip away as easily as it has come, and I want to maintain it at all costs. If Anne can keep it up all year, she may have a career as a scientist ahead of her.

Keeping Up Appearances - Tips for Classroom Decoration

This week, my grad school advisor came to informally observe my classroom and discuss how the year is going so far. He came in towards the tail end of a lesson on scaling and watch as the kids struggled to scale down the measurements of the classroom to a size that would fit on the graph paper I had given them. The lesson had no closing summary, one group was clearly talking rather than working and the kids sort of trickled out as I was dismissing them. I was a bit nervous about the coming conversation, but, as it turned out, he thought my classroom management was ahead of the game. Exiting news, since I've been working so hard on maintaining order.

He major comment was not on my teaching, but rather on the appearance of the classroom. As I myself knew, kids take appearances seriously, if unconsciously. And, as you know, my classroom only got painted a week ago, leaving me little time to put decorations up. Now the walls were blank and the kids are already starting to peel back the fresh coat of paint.

For all those in a similar state of decoration, here are some things to remember.

1. Kids will unconsciously take your class less seriously if it is messy or unadorned.

In my room, books and binders were tossed haphazardly onto the bookshelves and kids threw paper balls around and left them on the floor. Despite my lack of tolerance for food in the classroom, they would eat chips and throw the bag on the ground.

2. Setting up strong classroom procedures will give you less work and keep the classroom looking nice.

After the visit, I changed my binder policy. Before, I had allowed my advisees to leave their binders on one of the bookshelves. But the binders were too tall to sit upright, so they ended up throw in at odd angles and spilled over onto the other bookshelves, which were supposed to be reserved for books. As my professor suggested, I found a large box and put the binders in that. Now my students know to keep their binders off the shelves and in the box under my desk, where they are out of sight and leave my bookshelves looking neat.

3. Early in the year, without student work to put up, think about easy ways to decorate while still staying on topic.

Since the students have not yet turned in any substantial work, I had to decorate using materials I provided. In an Earth Science classroom, a periodic table is always necessary, and for my kids, a times table seemed appropriate just in case they still struggle with multiplication (which many of them do). For another wall, I took an old calendar that showed the moon over various natural landscapes and hung up pictures from it. These can even stay up all year and be referenced when we talk about weather, erosion and moon phases. It was cheap, easy and looks really nice against the beige walls.

4. Even the simple things matter.

My professor pointed out that, while some parts of my room were messy, the desks were lined up for each class and there were few papers on the ground. I am always conscious of picking up after a class leaves, or asking a student to help straighten the desks before he or she leaves the room. Even simple things like that, which seem irrelevant to the content, can have a huge impact. If desks are messy, kids will come in and spend valuable teaching time moving them around, and they will feel ok about moving around later in the class.

5. Decoration isn't everything.

Of course, while appearances are perhaps more important than they seem, remember that teaching is your first priority. Don't spend all your lesson planning time decorating because even the most well decorated, neat and tidy room cannot teach on its own.

How Teachers Mimic Their Students

It's 3:09 pm. The students are trickling down the stairways and, behind them, teachers are breathing sighs of relief. And then, a curious change happens. Once the kids are gone, the teachers drop their teacher acts and become, well, exactly like the little monsters they berated all day.

Take yesterday, for instance. A group of several teachers gathered in one classroom, chatting about the day. Someone came to the door and asked for one of us. The rest let out a chorus of "oooo, someone's in trouble." It was exactly the reaction my students give when one of them says something inappropriate - and it was totally uncalled for in this situation.

Or what about the day before, the day of the infamous putty? As soon as the students vacated the hallways, putty appeared in the hands of more than one teacher (even the assistant principal had a ball). We discovered, as the kids had, that the putty actually bounced when rolled into a ball. We threw the balls around the teacher room, pelting those who were actually trying to get work done, laughing gleefully. We scurried down the halls, passing them back and forth and bouncing them against the walls.

Last night, my friend and I showed up nearly half an hour late for our graduate class because we had "better things to do." We talked during class about our days, ate sandwiches on the lab tables and even used our cell phones.

In thinking about this somewhat strange phenomenon, I have come to the conclusion that we need to mimic these student behaviors in order to get into the student's mindset. Not that we do it consciously, but it seems to be a way for teachers to empathize with their students - we become surly and rude and annoying after work, so that when we come in the next day and are faced with rooms full of surly, rude, annoying teenagers, we can face them with understanding and compassion. We can exhibit model behaviors for them, knowing that our expectations are sometimes unrealistic, and realizing that sometimes a student acts out because he is bored, sometimes because she is tired and frustrated, and sometimes because it's just plain fun.

Into the Swing of Things

Last you heard, I had just witnessed my first fight of the year. I relaxed over the weekend (and by relaxed, I mean lesson planned) and then got right back out there on Monday. Now Wednesday has come and gone and my vocal chords are feeling it. It has been a week of very loud talking.

Somehow the excitement of the fight didn't wear off over the weekend, and the kids came back wild and well-rested. Yesterday last period was the worst. The teacher before lunch gave the students putty to make masks and of course they stole bits and pieces, despite her best efforts to get it away from them. They brought the putty into my class and began throwing tiny pieces everywhere. The first 10 minutes of class were completely wasted in trying to get the stuff away from them - each piece that was confiscated was replaced by twice the amount. I finally had to threaten to keep them all after school to clean up the putty that was littering my floor and that slowed, if not completely stopped, the onslaught. I was able to go on with my lesson. Needless to say, there will be no more putty for the 10th graders. Ever.

Other than the putty incident, things have been running ok this week. I think the students are getting into their routines and even though I fear they are always going to be talkative, I am getting the hang of how to calm certain students and engage others. I'm getting them up at the board more now that I know their names and learning styles. The most difficult part is differentiating instruction, since my classes all have such a range of abilities and prior skill sets. Some kids I can tell are bored out of their minds, while others look completely lost.

I took a step back late last week and had the classes set goals, not for themselves as individuals, but for the class as a whole. I am holding them accountable for things they wanted to achieve, such as having everyone pass the class. I told one girl today, when she finished early, that in order for us to achieve that goal, she had to help me teach those who were still working. Despite some grumbling, it actually worked.

My biggest concern now is getting kids not to cut class. Two girls have been consistently cutting class - I've seen them each about twice since school started, two weeks ago. Also, my advisee Adam, the one who was in the fight last week, has not shown up for his suspension the past two days, meaning that his suspension will continue into next week. We still do not have any contact information for his mother, so we cannot ask her to help ensure his attendance. I tried calling another parent, who is a friend of hers, today, but that number was disconnected as well.

However, things are starting to fall into place. Procedures around the classroom are solidifying and I'm finally getting to decorate a bit, now that the painting is thankfully complete. I'm getting more confident and am learning how to manage the board on days when I have to teach more than one lesson. I still like all my co-workers and, although I have complaints about the administration, for the most part, I'm very happy where I am. I just hope I can create the change I hope to see!

Keep wishing me luck!

The First Fight

Well the first full week of school just couldn't end without a fight, now could it? But before I come to that, some back story:

Yesterday, my class-cutting, no working phone advisee (we'll call him Adam), came into first period advisory looking a bit off. I asked him what was wrong and he said something was up. He wouldn't do his work so I asked him if he wanted to talk outside. There, he told me that two boys from another school in the same building were saying that they were going to jump him after school. He said he didn't want to fight and he had tried to talk to the guy, but he was still concerned. The guidance counselor happened to be passing in the hall at that moment and together we took him to the dean of the other school to report the incident and try to identify the guys (who Adam didn't know by name). We spent an hour and a half of our free time talking to him and convincing him to stay out of trouble. He managed to get through the day without a problem.

Today, Adam already seemed to be somewhat attached to me. He tried to come into two of my science classes, even though he is in 9th grade (he was held over last year) and I only teach 10th grade. The thing about him is he still looks like a baby and I can tell that inside he wants to stay out of trouble. But he can't. Last year, he was in several fights and after today, I'm guessing this year is going to be the same.

Although he claims otherwise, Adam is in a gang. And not only that, but he is in a gang that differs from the predominant gang at our school, which probably explains some of his fighting. Today another 9th grader was shouting insults about Adam's gang in the hallway and Adam, I'm told started to get into a verbal argument, threatening the kid. The kid's older brother is an over-6-foot-tall 10th grader at our school (who, by the way, completely disrupted my class yesterday and insulted me so much that I had to remove him from class). This kid, we'll call him Benny, jumped in to defend his younger brother and started swinging at Adam. Naturally, Adam started swinging back.

I was actually passing in the hallway as the fighting happened and hastened to my classroom door, hoping to shuttle the kids inside before it got too intense. I managed to get most of my last period class inside when the hallway erupted. Kids started running towards the fight, some jumping in, others just watching. I, along with several other teachers, spent the next 10 minutes shouting and shoving kids into our classrooms. Not just the kids we were supposed to be teaching, but any kid we saw, just to get them out of the hallway. It took a lot of energy.

Both Adam and Benny were suspended for all of next week, although the dean at our school is working to have Adam's time reduced since he didn't start the fighting. Needless to say, my last period was spent babysitting, not teaching. Benny had to be removed in handcuffs from the hallway and security warned us not to let anyone out into the hallways, not even to use the bathroom.

I knew I was in for this when I started, but I admit I hadn't expected a fight so soon. I don't even know everyone's name yet and already I'm dealing with a suspended advisee. It's just a reality check. This may be a job for me, but for these kids, it's their life and just because school has barely started doesn't mean they don't already have problems. All of my kids are "at risk" and that is why I have to be there for them and do the best I can to teach and counsel them. I can already feel Adam becoming my project for the year and if I can reach him, well then I can probably reach most kids.

Another Roller Coaster Day

I'm starting to get the hang of teaching. It's all about learning how to tighten those core muscles at just the right time, as the roller coaster dips or rises over a crest. Today I taught two more classes the lesson I described in my last post. The first class yesterday was a disaster, but then it got better. Today I was ready to make it even better. In my first class, a girl who walks into a room with an air of distaste and lack of care actually sat and did her work all day. I convinced her to sit in her assigned seat and she began asking questions and participating when we shared out answers. The icing on the cake was when she came up to me after class and told me what we learned had been "pretty cool." Yet again, it is amazing how good a teenager can make a grown adult feel. Just those two words and I felt like I won the lottery.

Not that everything today was good. I'm having problems controlling one of my classes, which has two very disruptive kids in it. One of them is extremely smart, but simply cannot sit still and craves the attention of his classmates. He needs to be the center of attention at all times. As suggested in my grad classes, I went to the teachers who had this kid last year and asked them for tips on how to manage his behavior. It seems that giving him leadership roles works, because he can be viewed by his classmates and productive at the same time. I'm reluctant to seemingly reward him for bad behavior, but if it makes the class run smoothly from now on, I will try it.

Another issue that's been looming over my head is the Phone Calls Home. I use caps because parents are inherently intimidating to me after the stories I've heard: parents who don't care, curse at you, speak zero English or never return your phone calls. It sounds awful to me. Yet there are 12 students - my advisees - who rely on me to make those all important calls reporting their misbehaviors and challenges and cutting of classes. Oh yeah, and their triumphs too. I had intended to call home simply to introduce myself in a neutral manner, but already some of my advisees are having issues. One in particular has been cutting class and when I tried calling home today, I discovered that his phone has been disconnected because the family couldn't pay the bill. It's only the second week and I'm thinking that stuff like this is just going to keep happening. And I'll just keep on trying.

All in all, probably a fairly typical day. Soon, I hope, I will have time for some sleep.

Lesson Ebbs and Flows

Today was a pretty typical day. My first lesson, a repeat from yesterday, went fine. My second period class had a new lesson - a first run. And the first run, I have learned, is always a trial run. In this case, behavior was no problem, as half of the class fell asleep midway through the lesson. It was not well-planned. They finished the activity too soon, the order wasn't right and I ended up simply lecturing for much of the period just to fill the time (and I was lucky the assistant principal observed me yesterday rather than today). It was exactly what a lesson should not be .

But a key to teaching, I have come to understand, is thinking on your feet, improvising and making constant improvements. Luckily I had a prep the following period and was able to regroup. Forgetting to eat my lunch, I created a new worksheet for the kids, rearranged the lesson order so that the kids were discovering more for themselves and I had less to lecture about, and coming up with better questions to ask them.

It really paid off. The class after lunch was one of my hardest groups, a CTT class with some special education students and two teachers in the room, but they loved the new lesson. Rather than keeping their heads on the desk all class, as my previous class had, they sat up and even asked questions. The class flew by and we barely had time to finish.

The lesson will be repeated twice tomorrow, so I'll certainly write about how that goes, as well as some other issues that have come up thus far. For now, the planning continues.