I have reached the one month mark of being a full time permanent teacher and it's been a crazy month - particularly the past week (hence the subtitle). I don't remember ever being this tired and that includes the 5 straight years of being an insomniac. Here's what the past week brought me:
First and foremost, it seems like everyone in school is sick. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration but it really feels that way. According to the ELA content coach, Rich, that's typical for the start of the year. Around the 3-4 week mark, all the teacher start getting colds. I picked up mine at 3½ weeks. Ever try to stand in front of a group of rambunctious students when you are under the weather. Oh goodness gracious, it is not easy! Fortunately, my students took pity on me and behaved themselves pretty well. Of course it helped that I was doing a "homophone challenge" with all my classes in which a prize was on the line. The class who could create the most homophone pairs receives baked goods from my kitchen. Consequently, I now have to spend a good portion of today baking - cookies, cupcakes, and brownies. Baking is something that I love to do but really don't have the time or energy for today. But I will not be yet another person who breaks a promise to these kids, so if I have to stay up all night baking, then I will.
Friday was probably the worse day I've had in my short career and even that wasn't too bad. Aside from being sick, I caught one student cheating on a ridiculous standardized test (personally I hate standardized tests). He was giving one of his classmates hand signals with the answers. I was so disappointed in this student because he's in my Freshman honors class and I thought they were a little better disciplined. <SMH> Saddens me. Of course, the student denied it, but I know what I saw. You know what Judge Judy says, right? "How can you tell if a teenager is lying? Their lips are moving." :-)
The other thing that happened on Friday was a big fight in the hallway of my floor. Now, I was dealing with a new student who just joined one of my classes, so I didn't actually see it, but I heard it. I do know that one of my students was attacked by another student and according to reports, it appeared to be a random thing. Wow, you got to love teenage testosterone. It also ended with two others students of mine being in-house detention. I didn't put them there, but I got a call from security that they were there. It was a crazy day on Friday, which included a trail of blood on the 1st floor. We think someone had a nose bleed and bled all the way to the bathroom, but no one knows for sure. See - CRAY-ZEE!
The other thing that happened on Friday was a big fight in the hallway of my floor. Now, I was dealing with a new student who just joined one of my classes, so I didn't actually see it, but I heard it. I do know that one of my students was attacked by another student and according to reports, it appeared to be a random thing. Wow, you got to love teenage testosterone. It also ended with two others students of mine being in-house detention. I didn't put them there, but I got a call from security that they were there. It was a crazy day on Friday, which included a trail of blood on the 1st floor. We think someone had a nose bleed and bled all the way to the bathroom, but no one knows for sure. See - CRAY-ZEE!
I think the most annoying thing about the past month is the sheer amount of BS paperwork that goes into being a teacher. I feel like I'm drowning in paperwork. Some of it is because BMF is a level 4 turnaround school therefore much of the paperwork is for the Department of Education to make sure that we stay compliant and I think that's where most of the BS part of it goes. I do recognize that there is a element of paperwork in every job, but it's just a ridiculous amount when it comes to teaching. I pretty much have to give up a good portion of my weekends to schoolwork because there's no time to do it during the week.
But all that being said, the actual teaching part is still a joy. It might sound like I was doing a bit of complaining in this post, but I seriously LOVE what I do. I do have a few challenges to overcome - discipline being one of them. I know I'm not disciplined enough with my students. I had one student say to me that I was pretty lenient when it came to students chatting in class. I told him that I grew up in an Italian household in which talking over other people and having multiple conversations at once became an art form. I can handle a handful of students chatting. :-)
Here is the best part of crazy Friday: As you can see from the email that I got from a guidance counselor (see photo below), I have already made a small change to one student's life and that is rewarding enough. This was the new student that I referred to above. She stayed after class a few minutes on Friday to say that she had had some difficulties in her last English class. She thought the teacher didn't like her and treated her meanly. What kind of teacher does that? She now knows that she has at least one teacher who is there to support her and welcome her. Some people should not be teachers! Just saying...
Don't forget to check out My 1st Year Teaching photo album, as I add more photos.
But all that being said, the actual teaching part is still a joy. It might sound like I was doing a bit of complaining in this post, but I seriously LOVE what I do. I do have a few challenges to overcome - discipline being one of them. I know I'm not disciplined enough with my students. I had one student say to me that I was pretty lenient when it came to students chatting in class. I told him that I grew up in an Italian household in which talking over other people and having multiple conversations at once became an art form. I can handle a handful of students chatting. :-)
Here is the best part of crazy Friday: As you can see from the email that I got from a guidance counselor (see photo below), I have already made a small change to one student's life and that is rewarding enough. This was the new student that I referred to above. She stayed after class a few minutes on Friday to say that she had had some difficulties in her last English class. She thought the teacher didn't like her and treated her meanly. What kind of teacher does that? She now knows that she has at least one teacher who is there to support her and welcome her. Some people should not be teachers! Just saying...
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