This past week was not only my first week of teaching, but it was also spirit week. Since this was my first experience with anything like that, I can say that it was very interesting. The dressed up kids had to explain to the other students what they were wearing in German. Everybody really enjoyed it. Friday I enjoyed my first pep-rally as well as my first HS football game. I loved it. There were four of our students playing football and three cheerleaders from our classes as well. I did not believe that it would actually be a big deal to them to see me there, and I was pleasantly surprised! Next week will be German- American week at the school. We are going to go to the Elementary and Middle school and give presentations about positive figures from Germany. It will be a lot of fun. I am a little worried though, how it is going to interrupt my classes.
Tomorrow will mark my 10th day in a row that I have done full-time teaching as well. To sum it up, I am exhausted both physically and mentally and I have gotten the flu! I can honestly say that I had no idea how much work is involved in being a teacher- I mean REALLY being THE teacher, not the student-teacher or intern. I have been making activities and worksheets and gathering information for lesson plans every night, as well as grading papers, staying after school for extra help, running the science club during lunch, attending meetings and parent conferences, planning a field trip, etc., etc. and I have discovered that "teaching" is not just going into the classroom and teaching! There is so much preparation and culmination and tons in-between. This has been a great opportunity for me to figure out what schedules and routines work for me and what backfires (i.e., never wait until the last minute to print out worksheets because the printer will undoubtedly break at 2:00 am the night before you need them!). It has also been a great lesson in "monitor and adjust"- things have rarely gone the way I "planned" for them to go these past 2 weeks, and I have REPEATEDLY re-worked my lesson plans. All in all, it has been stressful and tiring but I am glad this was a requirement because I can really see how it is to be a teacher!
Okay folks, after all my enthusiasm and excitement about teaching a full load for some weeks I am now completely and utterly exhausted. By 6th period I find myself not having the energy to tell the kids to be quiet. I almost want to lay down on the floor, go to sleep and let them do whatever they want. Anybody else have this problem? Because of this, my last few classes have discipline problems. Your right, Elizabeth, I had NO idea that it would be this hard. It is NOT just about teaching. It is disciplining, planning, teaching, paperwork, copying, more planning, loving, caring, the list goes on. Now that I have griped, I think I can go on to teach another day. Thanks for being the dumping ground. (See, there goes Mrs. Naive and Happy. Welcome Mrs. Cuckoo and Barely Living.)
My full day teaching has also been quite an eye-opener for me. Not really because of the teaching all day, but because of three different preps. I can't even CONCEIVE of a time when some teachers had up to seven different preps. I am not even talking about adjusting different material for different levels of classes, but completely different classes, in which I am not entirely familiar with. It has been so difficult to write three entirely different lesson plans every single night. Then attempt to get up early every morning and relate this information to the students in a up-beat and exciting way. (I am NOT a morning person and cheerfulness is not in my vocabulary that early, but I am getting bettter.) My coop has given me many "bags of tricks" that help me figure out how to teach so many different preps, especially for material that I don't know. (In Psych, I am not much more ahead of the students.) I mainly develop my lessons having them teach me (they gather the material, systhesize it and retell it while I guide and asssist) -- which is authentinc and constructive and we all learn more that way. But some info, I have to do the formal lecture. So I am up very late all night learning the content so I can attempt to tell them the next day. I have to do this for three different classes (I mean it not even all HISTORY classes, or all government, or even remotely related!!) I am never more than one day ahead, and I know I need to be at least a week ahead. I am barely keeping my head above water. Needless to say, everything else is suffering greatly -- USC classes, family, pets, food ...
Well, my first week went well (in planning and teaching, that is). I definitely have fallen behind on the grading part, though. Maybe that is the crux of the situation: you can only do two of the three at a time! I definitely have learned that teaching school is difficult to schedule into my life! I guess that is why the kids think we don't ever leave the classroom. And yes, I did have a student who actually thought I lived at the school!
Well guys I have been full time teaching since Oct.15, and I can honestly say that I am exhausted. I have four classes two sixth grades and two seventh grades of health. The kids are great and I have had no discipline problems,thank goodness. The only adjustment I have had to make is with the class size. My two sixth grade classes have 37 students in each class. This makes is hard to do activities, but I have learned to adjust and go with the flow. I never know how my lesson is going to come out because each class is so different. One thing might work well in one class, but it may be a disaster in the other class. The one thing that I can say that I have learned from my teaching experience is that expect the unexpected. You never know what a student might say in class, and you need to be prepared for anything. It has been a great experince so far and I can hardly believe that in just over a month it will all be over.
The only thing I have to say is that coffee is good..rain is bad (children are cattle)...and I am still waiting on the 36hr day..
By Elizabeth Milliken (Usc_milliken) on Tuesday, October 30, 2001 - 08:15 pm:
By Wednesday Anderson (Usc_anderson) on Wednesday, October 31, 2001 - 08:02 pm:
By Laura Eckard (Usc_eckard) on Thursday, November 1, 2001 - 05:18 am:
By Andrew Higginbotham (Usc_higinbotham) on Sunday, November 4, 2001 - 08:18 pm:
By Mary McAllister (Usc_mcallister) on Monday, November 5, 2001 - 08:54 am:
By Kathleen Holtz (Usc_holtz) on Monday, November 5, 2001 - 06:31 pm:
by the way I was informed that I now sit up and talk about physics in my sleep..as if I thought sleeping was resting!
Hail Hail Juan Valdez!!!
21 days and drinking
kat