Catching Up
Now that I finally have my internet back, I'm typing the blog I wrote towards the end of August and will be writing my other August blog later today. We'll pretend I'm in a little time warp; I didn't even realize that a hurricane was coming until it already hit, and my block of downtown Jackson finally got a huge crew of utility workers yesterday. One guy was from Canada, but I don't have the energy to make a Canada joke right now. Just watch the South Park movie.
My classroom management plan is the worst. And I'm the worst at classroom management. Of course, a lot of new teachers feel that way, but this is my reality, dammit. Overall I have really well-behaved kids, but there are a couple of classes that are just downright unnerving. Really, it reminds me of my own high school days. I'm more inclined to laugh nostalgically at what some of my students do rather than correct a problem.
In one of my classes I just need to get over the fact that there are always going to be a few bad apples. They're not disruptive per se but are certainly piling up zeroes int he grade book already and just don't care. I have a lot of over flow students from French and Spanish in my Latin class, which is to say, I have a lot of below average students mixed in with the cream of the crop. I've been told to teach at my level, the kids generally police themselves if I turn a blind eye to minor incidents, and the rest generally speaking just try to get a halfway decent grade. But when all sorts of different classroom activities fail to capture the imagine of a few students, it really gets to you. Forgive me for sounding snotty, but I've never been around people who either aren't or don't want to be excelling.
The only other major problem I have - and I emphasize the word major - is in one class with a lot of bright students who goof off way too much. They're in for a rude awakening sometime in the near future when I assign seats and begin to crackdown on it, but for right now there's just no respect. I think part of it has been that I'm not clamping down on grades. But it's odd how my other Latin classes soak it all in and remain really well-behaved and inquisitive where this one class focuses their energy on testing me - explicitly. You can feel the tension in the air. The hardest adjustment I think is going to be tightening up with this class while still being able to be loose in my other ones. I hate being a hard-ass, and somehow being my laid-back but enthusiastic self is working well five out of six times. I'll need to drudge up the stuff I learned over the summer, which to my regret as Ben predicted has gone straight out the window for the most part.
I have a flat tire to fix right now and lesson plans to catch up with, so unfortunately I have to cut it short, though there is a lot more to talk about. I'll have some more interesting and dedtailed if disjointed tidbits later tonight when I finish up my 'August' blogs. Before I do anything else though, I'm taking a nice long hot shower at my own apartment for the first time in a long time.
Gross.
My classroom management plan is the worst. And I'm the worst at classroom management. Of course, a lot of new teachers feel that way, but this is my reality, dammit. Overall I have really well-behaved kids, but there are a couple of classes that are just downright unnerving. Really, it reminds me of my own high school days. I'm more inclined to laugh nostalgically at what some of my students do rather than correct a problem.
In one of my classes I just need to get over the fact that there are always going to be a few bad apples. They're not disruptive per se but are certainly piling up zeroes int he grade book already and just don't care. I have a lot of over flow students from French and Spanish in my Latin class, which is to say, I have a lot of below average students mixed in with the cream of the crop. I've been told to teach at my level, the kids generally police themselves if I turn a blind eye to minor incidents, and the rest generally speaking just try to get a halfway decent grade. But when all sorts of different classroom activities fail to capture the imagine of a few students, it really gets to you. Forgive me for sounding snotty, but I've never been around people who either aren't or don't want to be excelling.
The only other major problem I have - and I emphasize the word major - is in one class with a lot of bright students who goof off way too much. They're in for a rude awakening sometime in the near future when I assign seats and begin to crackdown on it, but for right now there's just no respect. I think part of it has been that I'm not clamping down on grades. But it's odd how my other Latin classes soak it all in and remain really well-behaved and inquisitive where this one class focuses their energy on testing me - explicitly. You can feel the tension in the air. The hardest adjustment I think is going to be tightening up with this class while still being able to be loose in my other ones. I hate being a hard-ass, and somehow being my laid-back but enthusiastic self is working well five out of six times. I'll need to drudge up the stuff I learned over the summer, which to my regret as Ben predicted has gone straight out the window for the most part.
I have a flat tire to fix right now and lesson plans to catch up with, so unfortunately I have to cut it short, though there is a lot more to talk about. I'll have some more interesting and dedtailed if disjointed tidbits later tonight when I finish up my 'August' blogs. Before I do anything else though, I'm taking a nice long hot shower at my own apartment for the first time in a long time.
Gross.
posted by David Jones | 12:08
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