I have been having a pretty hard week at school because I feel like I am having to be really stern and mean when all I want to do is be fun and silly. I know it is important to show the kids that I am serious and to really train them to do what I want them to do, but I still feel a bit exhausted by the end of the day because of it.
I was talking to Derek the other night and I was almost in tears because I want to be the teacher that makes a difference in kids' lives. I don't remember anything I learned from elementary school, but I remember how my teachers made me feel. I want my students to know that I love and care for them and I want to make them feel wonderful, but it is hard because I kind of have to be Mrs. Strict! I have a really tough class, behaviorally, so I know that I need to get a handle on it now or it will haunt me the rest of the year, but it's just hard!
Anyway, I was feeling like I was being way too mean and that none of the kids would know that I truly loved being around them. Derek was trying to reassure me, but you know how that goes! "You're my husband so you're supposed to say those things, but I know that you are wrong and I want to pout and moan and feel sorry for myself!"
Well, I got the reassurance that I really wanted tonight at Back to School Night. I had several parents come up and tell me that their kids were so excited to have me as their teacher, that they loved getting up for school in the morning and that they really enjoyed school already this year! What? I feel like I'm being this mean old witch, but the kids are seeing that I do really care for them and that is why I have to set boundaries! The best part of all of this is that one of the parents that told me this was the parent of the boy that is my hardest behavior issue. He and I have been working hard to turn his behavior around and for the most part, he has actually taken great strides (even though it's only been a week) so I was glad to hear from his mom that he likes me as his teacher. I always feel bad when I have to call him out but at least he knows that I am doing it to help him and not to be mad at him.
I have already set up an after-school-homework-help session with one of the kids and I am really excited about that too. This is the reason I became a teacher! I want to help kids succeed and if I need to take time after school to do that, I don't care one bit!
So, that's that! I was really excited to hear some of the nice things that the parents had to say to me and it was just really good to meet some of them.
We Are Fami-Lee
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
I Love Being a Teacher!!!
2 days down, a whole lot more to go!!!
School started on Thursday and for the most part, it went really well! I must say, however, that the first day of school isn't really any fun. All I did was teach them procedures and play get to know you games, which isn't that bad, but it just wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. I felt like I was a really mean and strict teacher the first day, because I knew that I had to get a handle on management from day 1 or else I feared that the kids would walk all over me from then on. But, day 2 was much better and I was able to be myself more and be more fun with the kids. That's how I want to be every day!!!
The first day was an extremely stressful day because everything seemed to go really, really fast and I wasn't able to do a lot of the things that I had planned. In my school district, most elementary schools do what's called "Track Time" which means that 1/2 my kids come at 8:00 in the morning and I have them for an hour and 15 minutes before the rest of the kids come. Then, the second set of kids stay for an hour and 15 minutes after the first track kids leave. Well, anyway, my second trackers came at 9:15 and we had Specialties at 9:30. That meant that I had 15 minutes to teach my kids:
1) that they would be split into thirds and each go to a different Specialty which will switch every trimester,
2) how to line up (quietly, without touching each other, in two lines, etc.) and
3) how to walk in the halls.
Plus, I had to get them to each of their specialties within that 15 minute time-block!
That's what I mean when I say it was stressful! I felt like I had so much to teach them (because they had to know it that first day) and so very little time!
Like I said before, Day 2 was much, much better. I didn't plan as many things and even though we had an assembly that was a bit stressful, overall, it was a very relaxed day compared to Thursday. I was able to be myself and be the kind of teacher that I truly want to be. For homework on the first day, I gave each student a sack and they had to fill it with 5 things that represented them. When we were sharing the next day, I kept singing the kids names as they were getting ready to come up! At first, the kids kept looking around with confused looks on their faces like, "Is she for real?" but then they started laughing every time I did it! It was really fun and silly!
There are a couple of stories that I wanted to share from the first two days (many of which are pretty funny!)
1. First of all, I lost a kid on the first day...that's right, lost one! He is a second track student but I wasn't paying attention as well as I should have been and he left when all the first track students were leaving. He is new to the school, so he didn't know he was doing anything wrong, but I still had to walk to the office and get them to call his name over the intercom. Pretty funny. Then, I had a kid that stayed all day. He came at first track even though he wasn't supposed to come until second track. The office lady came in and kind of chewed him out saying that he needed to only come at 9:15 and leave at 3:30, so, he did stay until 3:30, meaning I had him the entire day! He is one of those "hard" ones so it was pretty funny that first day!
2. On the second day of school, the kid with a mohawk brought me an apple. That's right...he brought me an apple! I wanted to laugh so hard but instead I made a big deal about how nice it was! I was so excited because it felt like I was a real teacher. Kids bringing me apples and all!
3. Our air conditioner is a little slow so in the morning it is freezing cold because the trailer has had all night to cool down but as the day wears on, the air conditioner can't keep up with all the hot bodies that come in after recess so it gets really, really hot. Like 90 degrees hot! I was telling one of my colleagues (that's right, I have colleagues!) about how hot it was and he told me that if I needed to, I could come in and use his room (he is doing a pilot testing program for our school so he is in the computer lab, but there isn't any testing going on so his room is empty). That second day I decided to take him up on his offer and since my students were just doing show and tell, I didn't think it would be a big problem. Well, four adults were in the classroom when we got there but they just sat in the back while we did our show and tell. One of the kids brought a cell phone and I quickly asked if the phone was off. He told me it was and he seemed a pretty trustworthy kid so I believed him. A few minutes later, another kid was presenting, and a cell phone went off. The people in the back looked at me and I was absolutely mortified! I walked over to the kid and just held my hand out so he knew to give me the dang phone NOW!!! I put it in my pocket and moved on. Later, after school was over, I saw Boyce, one of the adults in the back of the room, and I said, "How about when my kid's cell phone went off!" He just laughed and said, "Yeah, it had to happen then didn't it? When we were all in the back watching you! It had all day to go off, but it just happened to go off then!" Seriously! I mean, I am judged on how well my kids behave and on the second day of school, one of my kids' cell phones rings in front of 4 other teachers! Awesome!
Well, that's all I can think of right now. I know that a lot more happened during the last two days, but I can't remember all of it. All you need to know is that I love being a teacher!
School started on Thursday and for the most part, it went really well! I must say, however, that the first day of school isn't really any fun. All I did was teach them procedures and play get to know you games, which isn't that bad, but it just wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. I felt like I was a really mean and strict teacher the first day, because I knew that I had to get a handle on management from day 1 or else I feared that the kids would walk all over me from then on. But, day 2 was much better and I was able to be myself more and be more fun with the kids. That's how I want to be every day!!!
The first day was an extremely stressful day because everything seemed to go really, really fast and I wasn't able to do a lot of the things that I had planned. In my school district, most elementary schools do what's called "Track Time" which means that 1/2 my kids come at 8:00 in the morning and I have them for an hour and 15 minutes before the rest of the kids come. Then, the second set of kids stay for an hour and 15 minutes after the first track kids leave. Well, anyway, my second trackers came at 9:15 and we had Specialties at 9:30. That meant that I had 15 minutes to teach my kids:
1) that they would be split into thirds and each go to a different Specialty which will switch every trimester,
2) how to line up (quietly, without touching each other, in two lines, etc.) and
3) how to walk in the halls.
Plus, I had to get them to each of their specialties within that 15 minute time-block!
That's what I mean when I say it was stressful! I felt like I had so much to teach them (because they had to know it that first day) and so very little time!
Like I said before, Day 2 was much, much better. I didn't plan as many things and even though we had an assembly that was a bit stressful, overall, it was a very relaxed day compared to Thursday. I was able to be myself and be the kind of teacher that I truly want to be. For homework on the first day, I gave each student a sack and they had to fill it with 5 things that represented them. When we were sharing the next day, I kept singing the kids names as they were getting ready to come up! At first, the kids kept looking around with confused looks on their faces like, "Is she for real?" but then they started laughing every time I did it! It was really fun and silly!
There are a couple of stories that I wanted to share from the first two days (many of which are pretty funny!)
1. First of all, I lost a kid on the first day...that's right, lost one! He is a second track student but I wasn't paying attention as well as I should have been and he left when all the first track students were leaving. He is new to the school, so he didn't know he was doing anything wrong, but I still had to walk to the office and get them to call his name over the intercom. Pretty funny. Then, I had a kid that stayed all day. He came at first track even though he wasn't supposed to come until second track. The office lady came in and kind of chewed him out saying that he needed to only come at 9:15 and leave at 3:30, so, he did stay until 3:30, meaning I had him the entire day! He is one of those "hard" ones so it was pretty funny that first day!
2. On the second day of school, the kid with a mohawk brought me an apple. That's right...he brought me an apple! I wanted to laugh so hard but instead I made a big deal about how nice it was! I was so excited because it felt like I was a real teacher. Kids bringing me apples and all!
3. Our air conditioner is a little slow so in the morning it is freezing cold because the trailer has had all night to cool down but as the day wears on, the air conditioner can't keep up with all the hot bodies that come in after recess so it gets really, really hot. Like 90 degrees hot! I was telling one of my colleagues (that's right, I have colleagues!) about how hot it was and he told me that if I needed to, I could come in and use his room (he is doing a pilot testing program for our school so he is in the computer lab, but there isn't any testing going on so his room is empty). That second day I decided to take him up on his offer and since my students were just doing show and tell, I didn't think it would be a big problem. Well, four adults were in the classroom when we got there but they just sat in the back while we did our show and tell. One of the kids brought a cell phone and I quickly asked if the phone was off. He told me it was and he seemed a pretty trustworthy kid so I believed him. A few minutes later, another kid was presenting, and a cell phone went off. The people in the back looked at me and I was absolutely mortified! I walked over to the kid and just held my hand out so he knew to give me the dang phone NOW!!! I put it in my pocket and moved on. Later, after school was over, I saw Boyce, one of the adults in the back of the room, and I said, "How about when my kid's cell phone went off!" He just laughed and said, "Yeah, it had to happen then didn't it? When we were all in the back watching you! It had all day to go off, but it just happened to go off then!" Seriously! I mean, I am judged on how well my kids behave and on the second day of school, one of my kids' cell phones rings in front of 4 other teachers! Awesome!
Well, that's all I can think of right now. I know that a lot more happened during the last two days, but I can't remember all of it. All you need to know is that I love being a teacher!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
What else is my life about but school?
I tested 14 kids on Friday. It was really fun to meet them all but by the end of the day, I was surprisingly exhausted. Who knew that sitting on my butt testing students would make me so tired? But, I must say that after meeting some of my students, I am getting REALLY excited to teach.
I felt like a teacher on Friday. I felt like I knew what I was doing, and I felt comfortable doing it! I loved meeting the parents and talking to them (except one who looked at me and the first thing she said was, "Wow, you're young!" All I could say was "Thanks" and then quickly change the subject. I got the feeling she didn't really like how young of a teacher I was. Oh well!) because I felt like I connected with a lot of them because there was something to connect about: their kids. I liked talking to the kids and meeting them and kind of getting a feel for what they are like. (I may already have a favorite, even though we aren't supposed to have those, but this kid was hilarious!)
I don't know, I am just way more excited than nervous right now. I hope it lasts until Thursday but even if it doesn't, I know that once I get all those kids in my class, I will be excited again! Anyway, that's the latest.
(Oh yeah, I lost another 1.2 pounds this week! Yay for me!)
I felt like a teacher on Friday. I felt like I knew what I was doing, and I felt comfortable doing it! I loved meeting the parents and talking to them (except one who looked at me and the first thing she said was, "Wow, you're young!" All I could say was "Thanks" and then quickly change the subject. I got the feeling she didn't really like how young of a teacher I was. Oh well!) because I felt like I connected with a lot of them because there was something to connect about: their kids. I liked talking to the kids and meeting them and kind of getting a feel for what they are like. (I may already have a favorite, even though we aren't supposed to have those, but this kid was hilarious!)
I don't know, I am just way more excited than nervous right now. I hope it lasts until Thursday but even if it doesn't, I know that once I get all those kids in my class, I will be excited again! Anyway, that's the latest.
(Oh yeah, I lost another 1.2 pounds this week! Yay for me!)
Thursday, August 13, 2009
School, School, School
I'm not sure this blog entry will make a lot of sense because my mind is really jumbled and it has been a LOT lately.
School starts ONE WEEK from TODAY!!! It has come so fast and I really feel like I have not had a summer at all. I feel like I have spent my whole summer getting ready, and yet I also feel like I am nowhere near ready. I must say that I am a lot farther along than other people in my situation but somehow I feel like there is never a possibility to feel ready to be a teacher. You just have to jump in and do it, and that's pretty scary!
I am getting excited though. I am ready to stop anticipating what it will be like and actually feel what it really is like. I want to get started and figure out things on my own. It feels like there is so much I could be doing right now, but I'm not sure how to do it until I have the kids there and I figure out how I want to do things.
Some good news: my classroom is ALL the way done. I've been working on it for awhile now but there was always something else to do. Plus, everyday I brought more and more stuff to put in the room that it was never quite finished. Well, I can proudly say that it is DONE! My desk area is still a bit messy because I'm still trying to figure out how to organize files and stuff, but everything else is done! It is such a good feeling. Other good news (and I know that by saying this, people will think that I'm overreacting when I say I don't feel ready because this is really awesome, but just remember that I also said that I never think I could feel ready for this job; it's pretty much impossible!) : yesterday and today, I spent probably 5-6 hours working on a day-by-day schedule of what I will be teaching in math for the whole school year! My team and I had already created a skeleton, but I was still a bit unclear and feeling a tad overwhelmed, so I just sat down and did it and I feel much better now. If only I could figure out how to do that with the other subjects. It's kind of hard to do it with anything other than math, because with math there is a textbook that you teach from but with things like reading and writing, you just go with the flow and figure it out based on what your kids need.
I am going to meet most of my students tomorrow because I am testing them in reading. I'm excited to meet them but I'm nervous about administering the test. I've never done it before and even though it looks pretty self-explanatory, I'm afraid it will take me awhile to learn, which is hard because the students will be sitting right there waiting for me. Plus, the parents are probably not going to just drop their kids off and leave, so I have to let them stay in my room which is just a little awkward. But, if I have time, I'll have to share how it goes.
Oh, before I end, I have to tell the funniest story that happened the other day. I was calling the parents to schedule these testing appointments, and I phoned a mom who only spoke Spanish. Now, for those who don't know, I took three years of Spanish in high school, and Derek is pretty fluent so I practice with him every now and then. So, I call this mom and I tell her who I am and I begin to ask about the appointment when she tells me she doesn't speak English. I totally froze. I should have known because her last name was Martinez or something, but I just didn't think about it. After several long silent moments, I finally said, "OK, yo Marcos maestra." For those that don't speak Spanish, the literal translation of that is, "I Marcos teacher." Excuse me! Did I really say that to this woman. Yes. Yes, I did...Then I told her, "Lo siento! No hablo espanol!" ("Sorry, I don't speak Spanish). She just laughed hysterically! It is funny now but I was dying then. So, I was so flustered that I couldn't think of anything in Spanish to say so I finally told her in plain English, "Well, I was going to make an appointment to meet with your son to do some testing, but I'll just wait until school starts." She obviously didn't understand a word so she just said, "OK, bye" and hung up as fast as she could! Holy Awkward! I called Derek later and he asked me if I knew how to say "I'm Marcos' teacher" and of course, once I was out of the terrible situation, I was able to form a perfectly coherent sentence in Spanish, but jeez. So, that's my funny story of the day. I sure hope I'll be able to talk to this woman throughout the year...
School starts ONE WEEK from TODAY!!! It has come so fast and I really feel like I have not had a summer at all. I feel like I have spent my whole summer getting ready, and yet I also feel like I am nowhere near ready. I must say that I am a lot farther along than other people in my situation but somehow I feel like there is never a possibility to feel ready to be a teacher. You just have to jump in and do it, and that's pretty scary!
I am getting excited though. I am ready to stop anticipating what it will be like and actually feel what it really is like. I want to get started and figure out things on my own. It feels like there is so much I could be doing right now, but I'm not sure how to do it until I have the kids there and I figure out how I want to do things.
Some good news: my classroom is ALL the way done. I've been working on it for awhile now but there was always something else to do. Plus, everyday I brought more and more stuff to put in the room that it was never quite finished. Well, I can proudly say that it is DONE! My desk area is still a bit messy because I'm still trying to figure out how to organize files and stuff, but everything else is done! It is such a good feeling. Other good news (and I know that by saying this, people will think that I'm overreacting when I say I don't feel ready because this is really awesome, but just remember that I also said that I never think I could feel ready for this job; it's pretty much impossible!) : yesterday and today, I spent probably 5-6 hours working on a day-by-day schedule of what I will be teaching in math for the whole school year! My team and I had already created a skeleton, but I was still a bit unclear and feeling a tad overwhelmed, so I just sat down and did it and I feel much better now. If only I could figure out how to do that with the other subjects. It's kind of hard to do it with anything other than math, because with math there is a textbook that you teach from but with things like reading and writing, you just go with the flow and figure it out based on what your kids need.
I am going to meet most of my students tomorrow because I am testing them in reading. I'm excited to meet them but I'm nervous about administering the test. I've never done it before and even though it looks pretty self-explanatory, I'm afraid it will take me awhile to learn, which is hard because the students will be sitting right there waiting for me. Plus, the parents are probably not going to just drop their kids off and leave, so I have to let them stay in my room which is just a little awkward. But, if I have time, I'll have to share how it goes.
Oh, before I end, I have to tell the funniest story that happened the other day. I was calling the parents to schedule these testing appointments, and I phoned a mom who only spoke Spanish. Now, for those who don't know, I took three years of Spanish in high school, and Derek is pretty fluent so I practice with him every now and then. So, I call this mom and I tell her who I am and I begin to ask about the appointment when she tells me she doesn't speak English. I totally froze. I should have known because her last name was Martinez or something, but I just didn't think about it. After several long silent moments, I finally said, "OK, yo Marcos maestra." For those that don't speak Spanish, the literal translation of that is, "I Marcos teacher." Excuse me! Did I really say that to this woman. Yes. Yes, I did...Then I told her, "Lo siento! No hablo espanol!" ("Sorry, I don't speak Spanish). She just laughed hysterically! It is funny now but I was dying then. So, I was so flustered that I couldn't think of anything in Spanish to say so I finally told her in plain English, "Well, I was going to make an appointment to meet with your son to do some testing, but I'll just wait until school starts." She obviously didn't understand a word so she just said, "OK, bye" and hung up as fast as she could! Holy Awkward! I called Derek later and he asked me if I knew how to say "I'm Marcos' teacher" and of course, once I was out of the terrible situation, I was able to form a perfectly coherent sentence in Spanish, but jeez. So, that's my funny story of the day. I sure hope I'll be able to talk to this woman throughout the year...
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Weight Loss
So, last April (as in April of 2008), I got really dedicated to going to the gym and eating better. In seven months, I lost about 15 pounds, which doesn't seem like much, but I'm the type of person that doesn't really care how long it takes as long as it gets done. If you do the math, seven months from April is November and Thanksgiving came up and I completely blew it. I got into this mode of thinking that it didn't matter because I had done so well up to that point. I stopped going to the gym and I ate anything I wanted. It was like I hadn't eaten anything in seven months so I just started gorging myself with all the food I ever wanted. Needless to say, I gained all my weight back, pretty fast. Then, I started gaining more than the 15. I told myself that it didn't matter, that I had a husband who loved me no matter what (which is completely true, I'm so grateful!) and I just tried to justify all the bad things I was eating.
Well, that time has come and gone. I've decided (again), that I can't just eat junk food all day every day and feel good about myself. I need to be active and I need to eat healthier because it just makes me feel good! So, I was talking to my mom and decided that I would start going with her to Weight Watchers. I started last Saturday and it has been really good because I'm still eating things that I want; I just eat less of them. Anyway, after 1 week of trying this out, I lost 2.8 pounds! I am so excited. It feels good to see success. That's pretty much all I have right now, but I'll keep you posted!
Well, that time has come and gone. I've decided (again), that I can't just eat junk food all day every day and feel good about myself. I need to be active and I need to eat healthier because it just makes me feel good! So, I was talking to my mom and decided that I would start going with her to Weight Watchers. I started last Saturday and it has been really good because I'm still eating things that I want; I just eat less of them. Anyway, after 1 week of trying this out, I lost 2.8 pounds! I am so excited. It feels good to see success. That's pretty much all I have right now, but I'll keep you posted!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The Worst is Over
Okay, it's done. Well, sort of. I called all of the parents but I only have 7 students signed up for testing. I couldn't get a hold of 8 parents and 3 students are moving. So, it's done for now. I'll have to follow-up on the ones I didn't reach and then hopefully I'll be done. I hate this part of my job. Parents are hard; kids are easy. Anyway, that's all.
Parents
I don't know what it is, but I have this major fear of talking to my students' parents. I have to call each one of them today to set up a time that I can test their kids and I have been putting it off forever. I don't want to talk to them...I'd rather talk to their kids! I think part of it might be that I feel a little incompetent when I talk to parents because all of them are older than me. I mean, they do have 4th graders so I get all insecure about being too young and them thinking that I am incompetent. I know it is ridiculous, but it's just how I feel. Maybe I'll treat myself to something if I can call them today, like an ice cream cone. Yeah, that sounds good!
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