Taking on Teaching

Busy!

2010-09-02T22:46:00.003-05:00

I really do plan on blogging here. This week has just been insanely busy, trying to figure out what I'm doing, and coming up with all the procedures to run my class and a structure/format for how my classes will run, so that I can explain it to the kids on the first day.

Tonight I sat down and hammered out the overview of what I will do each day for the first two weeks in my language arts class, basically creating the structure of the reading and writing workshop. It's a departure from what the other two 8th grade teachers do (I think), but the principal hired me in part because she liked my ideas for reading/writing workshop, so I'm going with it.

Now I need to tackle the structure of my science class. I think it will be a bit easier to organize, since it doesn't have to be quite so structured.

My back hurts from leaning over my laptop for the last 4 hours. But I'm very excited!

I got a job!

2010-08-31T19:25:00.002-05:00

Wow, after 2 years, I actually got a teaching job. Unbelievable. I abandoned this blog until I found a job, but now that I have one, we can start up again!

I am working at a school on the Northside of Chicago, not to be named for privacy reasons. It's low-income, very diverse. And I am teaching 8th grade science, and a little language arts.

Yes, 8th grade science. I am just now getting endorsed to teach science. I completed the requirements, and I am waiting for the State to send me confirmation. I decided to go for it early this summer, figuring it might help me get a job, but not really counting on it. So here's to planning ahead.

Tomorrow is the first official teacher workday. I will officially meet all my colleagues, get my schedule and rosters and figure out the basic curriculum. I've already worked a bit on setting up my classroom, and have it neat and basic. I have quite a few things to buy, primarily for my classroom library (books published in the past 10 years, a rug, and floor cushions). I have to figure out procedures and class rules. I have to figure out how to teach those in the first week, while getting to know my students. I have to figure out what I'm going to teach, and in roughly what order, so I can create a welcome letter for my students' parents.

I have a butt-load of challenges ahead of me, and I'll be tracking them here if you'd like to tag along.

the fair

2008-05-31T17:29:00.000-05:00

I tried attending the CPS career fair today. The CPS career fairs are huge - about 2000-3000 teachers attend, and 100+ schools have small tables set up, where they "interview" candidates on the spot for job openings. Some schools have lines of 30 or 40 people, who wait an hour or so for a 5-minute interview. It's crowded and huge and overwhelming.

I suppose it works for some people, especially those who have more "special" skills, such as Special Ed, Bilingual, etc. But it is not a situation where I can really shine. With so many people, I become so overwhelmed and full of self-doubt. My first thought on walking into that room was "why would anyone hire me?"

Honestly, I'd really rather be a sub next year, than go through a career fair again. I suppose it is partially my own fault, that due to the fact that I'm limited to public transit, there are quite a few schools I can't apply to. The schools that I can get to are, of course, among the ones everyone wants to work at. And most of those schools that I can get to, were not even at the fair at all.

I think I'm going to try to visit a lot of schools in the next few weeks, and see if I can get the opportunity to meet a few principals that way.

can I just clone myself?

2008-05-14T18:27:00.002-05:00

One of the biggest stresses in teaching kindergarten has been how difficult it is to provide individualized attention. To teach writing, my cooperating teacher and I have split up the class. Those who are ready to move are working with her, while I am focusing on the students who need to continue to work on the fundamentals. (Spaces between words, writing in a straight line, hearing and writing all the sounds in a word, writing neatly enough to read).

Even within a group of about 13, these students are at a variety of levels, and need a variety of different strategies. Several students really want to learn to write, but are very behind on their letter-sound understanding, and so cannot write without an adult to help them sound out every word and find the matching letters. Other students can write and spell, but are very lazy and/or messy. Some can write, but require a great deal of coaching and encouragement in order to feel confident enough to put letters down on paper. With some of these students, if I help for a moment and then move on, they stop working and wait for my help again, or without support, they revert back to their old habits.

I feel like there are quite a few in this group who are falling through the cracks, and will not go to first grade with the expected level of skills. However, kindergarteners are almost unable to work independently, and so it is extremely difficult to provide individualized attention and help bring the students who are falling behind up to level. It's extremely frustrating to see students who want to learn, but who need extra help that I just do not have the time to provide.

Field Trip!

2008-04-22T15:55:00.002-05:00

Today was a momentous day - my first field trip as a teacher. We walked a group of 26 kindergarteners 7 blocks to a fire station, spent 45 minutes, and then walked back. Sounds simple enough, right? When we got back to school, I was as exhausted as if I had spent all day at Disney World.

Walking with 26 kids is tiring. You always have lollygaggers that you have to prod along. In every intersection and alley, a meth-crazed drunk driver (or a cougar!) could suddenly appear and wipe out three shorties holding hands and walking along. Kids pick up trash off the ground, wander into people's yards, sing nonsense songs at the top of their lungs, and all try to tell
you stories at the same time.

The firehouse is another story. The kids had a blast, but many of them forgot how to "look with your eyes, not your hands" and how to "be respectful of other peoples' things" and how to "be a good listener." So I was constantly on the alert for kids jumping on a fireman's bed, or trying to wear an air tank or hiding behind a fire engine, or just generally disappearing into the ether.

But, we managed to get there, and back, with no major catastrophes.

This week, I am basically taking over the class for the next four weeks. Wish me luck!

Things They Said This Week

2008-04-20T19:40:00.002-05:00

"Then the dog made a dance."

"My mom and dad are going to the gallop."

"I! HAVE! PINEAPPLE!"

"And then the cougar jumped over the fence and tried to get me, but then the cougar hit his head on the swingset and then the cougar fell down and I ran in the house, and then the cougar came on my porch and scratched at the door."

the learning curve

2008-04-16T19:17:00.002-05:00

I'm still having some difficulty with classroom management. I suppose it's a tangle of problems. Spring arriving. Overly high expectations of 5 year-olds. Inheriting another teacher's management plan. The cooperating teacher and I bouncing back and forth between who is "in charge."

My cooperating teacher told me today that I'm using a sharp voice too often. I'm not necessarily "yelling" at kids, but I'm not using a soft, reasonable voice often enough when correcting behavior.

I'm in a difficult spot. Often times, when I try to get order, the kids simply do not listen. I haven't gained the respect of many of them. They respond to their regular teacher, but not as much to me. I'm overwhelmed by everything I'm trying to learn, trying to figure out how to manage time and personalities and expectations, and trying to figure out how to teach. It seems like, in my bewilderment and/or frustration, I'm resorting to being "sharp" sometimes, in an effort to gain control and/or respect.

That's definitely NOT the method I want to be using. I don't want to yell at kids. But I also don't feel like they yet see me as their teacher. As the person they should be listening to. And I'm not sure how to get there, at this late point in the year.

Usually, when I try to get order and they ignore me, the teacher steps in. As a result, I think they might have developed the response that they only really need to respond when SHE talks. Or, I have the theory that their brains are "trained" to respond to the sound of her voice, but not yet to mine. When it is noisy, and I talk, they don't hear me - they aren't trained to respond to my voice. But they are trained to tune in to her voice, so they hear her, even if we speak at the same volume.

I'm going to focus on this even more, and see what kind of changes I can make.

Oh, and I still need to work on SLOWING DOWN.

Things They Said This Week

2008-04-11T20:52:00.002-05:00

"My mom is getting her hair dialed tomorrow."

"There's a spider!"

"Hey, you're wearing new shoes. I've never seen those before."

"Look, it's a disaster!"

Reflection 1

2008-04-10T18:18:00.005-05:00

This is the reflection I wrote for the first lesson my supervising teacher saw me teach.

I think phonics and mathematics are the two most difficult concepts to teach. They are both building-block subjects. Each new skill to be taught is dependent upon the skills
that should have been previously learned, so its important to make sure that ALL the students are on board. And the speed at which and the ways in which students understand and gain these skills varies so widely. And so, when teaching phonics and math skills, especially at the foundational levels, it is so important to have numerous methods and strategies at the ready, before you start teaching the lesson.

Part of this is getting to know your students, and understanding the ways in which they learn. I think the more phonics lessons I participate in with these students, the more I will learn about how they learn, which will help me to adjust the strategies I use. Unfortunately, all the textbooks in the world on "how to teach phonics" can't really prepare you for a 6 year-old starting at you blankly. I think that is about the scariest thing in the world - seeing that a child isn't understanding what you're trying to teach, and having no idea how to get through to him. Especially when you thought the methods you had planned to use were as clear as you thought they could be.

For future phonics lessons, I will scour books, the internet, etc, for strategies to add to my "bag of tricks" that relate to whatever skill I am trying to teach. I will make sure that for the future, I have not only a plan B, but at least a plan C ready as backup.

I will also focus on slowing down my speech and enunciating more. Believe it or not, I'm actually better than I used to be. I'm hoping that feeling more comfortable (and thus less nervous), will help, but I'll try to find a trick to help me remember to "check in" with myself. Maybe as simple as writing "SLOW DOWN" on the back of my hand, where I'll see it often.

Things They Said This Week

2008-04-04T15:23:00.000-05:00

"There's a spider on you. April Fools!" (repeat 18 times)

"Why did the turtle cross the road? To get to the shell station!"

"Ms. H, you look fancy!"

"Boys are trouble, and they hurt."

"I accidentally sat on her, and then she bit me."

phonics failure

2008-04-01T15:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, my supervising teacher (the DePaul teacher who gives my grade) came to my class for the first of four observations of my abilities. This was basically to get a baseline of where I am, so that he can look for improvement.

I taught a phonics lesson, which was gruesome. Do you remember the dream where you go to school and you have to take a final in a class you haven't gone to all semester and you panic? That feeling is the same feeling you get when you're trying to teach a group of 6 year olds how to change the first sound in a word to make a new word, and half of them are looking at you blankly, and you realize you have no other strategy for getting the point across. Phonics is tough, because its really about skill-building. Each new skill depends on the ones learned previously. So it's important to make sure everyone is getting what you're teaching. And if someone didn't get something previously, what you're trying to teach now goes down like a lead balloon.

I have a terrible confession to make. I am what is now termed "addicted to success." Through much of my schooling, I was always "the best." I usually succeeded right away at everything. And if it wasn't immediately easy for me, I usually gave up on it pretty quickly (I still do this. I'm an instant gratification-seeker). This "addiction to success" is something that teachers are now supposed to prevent by making sure that accelerated learners are properly challenged. Anyway, because of this, it was so uncomfortable and paralyzing to be up there, and realize I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. Intellectually, I know that I'm not immediately going to be the best teacher. But emotionally, I felt like a failure because I couldn't immediately come up with a way to help these kids figure out on their own how to replace the /k/ sound in "cat" with a /b/ sound to make "bat."

Oh, and since today was April Fool's Day, my students kept trying to fool me with things like "hey, there's a unicorn over there!" or "There's a spider on you!" - but they'd repeat the same "joke" every 5 minutes, and I'd keep pretending to be fooled, and they'd laugh and laugh.

inside the mind of a child

2008-03-29T16:19:00.001-05:00

I want to write about what it's like to be a teacher, but I'm not teaching so much at this point, as I am learning to be a child psychologist.

Six year olds are such funny people. They have none of the blocks and filters that adults have. They're so naive, yet capable of manipulations you would never imagine.

They pick their noses, and then five minutes later want to hold your hand.

They sit on the rug, and you can almost watch them coming apart inside when they are bored; first they start playing with their shoes or their headband, then they start wiggling around, and sooner or later their on their backs and twisting around like a seizure patient. While all around them kids are sitting either paying attention, or acting out one of these steps themselves, but they are totally unaware of anyone but themselves, and the fact that sitting still for 10 minutes is completely more than they can possibly handle.

They play simple board games, and try to cheat in the most obvious of ways. I have sores from biting my tongue to keep from laughing at their guile, which to them seems so sneaky.

But at the same time, they have worlds inside their heads that are so big and unique and important. They are naive, but they are not simple. Super-secret spy clubs and peanut butter sandwiches and tree house designs and unhappy parents and a need to get their own way and sticker books and a brand new stuffed dog and best friends and band-aids.

Do you remember a time when a band-aid and an Oreo could make your day? Thankfully, I'm getting reminded every day now, and it's amazing.

Things We Said Today

2008-03-27T18:15:00.001-05:00

Kids to me:

"You smell funny."

"Hey! You have a tattoo!"

"You have to call it 'you-know-what.'"

"Can ladybugs fly?"

"I have something in my pocket for you."

Me to Kids:

"When you play together, you have to follow the rules."

"What is a Webkinz?"

"Why is your backpack on the floor?"

"When we draw "B" we draw it with a 'BIG' 'BELLY'!"

"Do you think you need to go poopy?"

lesson one

2008-03-25T20:12:00.001-05:00

The first thing I've learned about being a teacher - it's like performing in a 6-hour long improv show. You're "on" the entire day. It's a non-stop performance. You barely have a moment to yourself, no chance to rest.

I'm not even in the lead role yet, so I have some serious adjusting to do. It's very different from being in an office job, where you have a lot of time to yourself.

I've gotten home and been so tired the last few days. Although, I think it's probably mostly the fact that I'm getting up over an hour earlier, and I haven't had any soda. Hopefully adding caffeine back in the morning will help get me raring to go.

the big day!

2008-03-23T13:14:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow will be my first day in the classroom, with my new kindergarteners. I'm nervous and excited. I have no idea what is going to happen, or what kind of teacher I'm going to be.

I guess I'll find out.

the pre-teaching meeting

2008-03-13T15:53:00.000-05:00

I went in yesterday and meet briefly with my cooperating teacher (we'll call her Ms. H). She gave me a quick overview of how things work in the classroom, and introduced me to the class. They are adorable little people. We didn't really go over too much - we basically agreed that this is the sort of thing where you just have to jump in and see what happens.

So, I have a little over a week left before I jump into the pond of kindergarten.

I'm heading to a workshop right now on how to interview for teaching positions, which should be helpful, as I have a JOB FAIR on Saturday. I'm also trying to work on my portfolio and on cover letters to send out to about 70 schools.

why not?

2008-03-09T23:11:00.001-05:00

"Some men see things as they are and ask 'Why?'
I dream things that never were and ask, 'Why not?'
-Robert F. Kennedy

This has always been one of my favorite quotes, and I just came across it again recently, and I realized that this is the mindset I want to take into my teaching career. Not "What do I need to fix in these students?" but "What can I help these students to achieve?"

I think if I can keep this thought at the forefront, I'll be fine.

What do you do?

2008-03-04T14:57:00.000-06:00

I just started thinking about this. My entire identity is about to change.

What's one of the first things people ask when they meet you? "What do you do?"

I always had the same answer "I'm in marketing and promotions for a non-profit." If they showed any interest, I might elaborate. But it doesn't SOUND interesting. And it wasn't, really. It wasn't a BAD job, but it's not particularly exciting. I like the people I work(ed) with, and it was that, combined with inertia, that kept me at my job for 7 years.

But now I have a new, evolving answer.

"I'm student teaching in kindergarten."

"I'm becoming a teacher, and I'm currently looking for a full-time job for next fall."

"I'm a teacher."

Weird.

resumes galore!

2008-03-04T14:22:00.000-06:00

It's March, and student teaching starts in about 2 1/2 weeks. I'm leaving my job on Friday.

So what do I do in the mean time? Look for a job for next school year.

I currently have developed a list of about 70 CPS (Chicago Public Schools) schools (redundant?) that I am considering, and about 30 of those are "high interest" ones that I'd really like to work in. So now, I have to go through and create a unique and eye-catching cover letter template, and then tailor the cover letter to each school.

Then next week, I'll be visiting the top 30 or so schools personally to submit my resume and try to get 5 minutes with the principal. Who knows if it'll actually work, but I gotta try, right?

I haven't even started dealing with the possibilities of charter schools, yet. There's a charter school fair at the end of the month, so we'll see where that leads.

It's scary, because I have no idea how "employable" I am. Will principals even notice my resume? Is someone like me, an almost-30 career changer, more desirable than a fresh-faced 22 year old? I feel like if it were me doing the hiring, I'd prefer someone with more "life experience" over a kid with a bachelor's degree, but who knows?

Here we go!

2008-02-28T16:23:00.000-06:00

I am currently one week away from leaving my current, long-time job, to become an elementary school teacher. There might be some people out there who are interested to know what happens, so I'm starting this blog.

Beginning March 24, I will begin student teaching in a kindergarten classroom in a magnet school on Chicago's north side. I expect an adventure, and much hilarity, which I will relay, with all names changed to protect the young and innocent.

And we're off...