Today was better...
Yesterday sucked, as my previous post states. TikkunGer asked me, via the comments, how today was.
Today was much better because I picked my battles...but more about that later.
Right now work is challenging for a number of reasons. First, I'm quite on the edge emotionally. This is the first Chanukah I'm spending without my mom. It's odd, it's not like we've spent Chanukah together in years since she was in another state and quite sick. However, we still shared Chanukah. We called and she would always send a package with goodies for me. This year, in her memory, I'll be using one of the Menorah's she sent me. It's also challenging because of the lack of success with my students, and because I'm ready for the new semester which starts January 2nd.
Yesterday was bad because I woke up sad. My 2nd period class was reading "The Crucible" so horribly that I told them to close their books and we watched the movie. 3rd period I had a couple of really disruptive students and a so called collaborative teacher totally interrupted my lesson and pissed me off. 4th period I had a student get up and walk out of class when I told him he was marked tardy. He proceeded to show up later thinking I'd let him sit there, he walked out again. Finally came lunch, where I thought I could relax, but nope. There was a HUGE fight outside my classroom so I got on the phone to call security. Nothing happened to me but it pissed me off seeing the kdis fighting. By fifth period I had written the day off and didn't even try to read the play. We simply watched the end of it. 6th period I was beat down emotionally. I simply talked with my students, as I did with the other 2 classes where half the kids are failing. I discussed how we take advantage of things in life that are free. That when something is free it loses its value. That talk went well, until I discovered only 8 students out of over 20 did their homework which meant that the group assignment I had planned was shot because with that amount of kids I couldn't even make 3 groups. Sigh...Yesterday sucked.
So, my emotions are on edge and 50% of my students are failing. That is VERY discouraging. The good thing (if you can see a bright side), is that it's not solely my fault. There is a big problem in the 9th and 10th grades with drop outs and flunking, I discussed this with the head counselor today. Another factor is these kids were all with other teachers and schools before me. It's not like the problems start ten years into their educations. Either way, it makes me sad because, like I tell my students, I actually do give a damn. And so...today my students took a vocabulary test and then wrote me an essay about the things in school that they get for free and how they take advantage. They had to pick two things they take for granted and tell me about it. Tomorrow they will explore the cause and effects of those two things, and take a 20 question survey about their school skills. I was thinking, for their final, of making them write a thank you note to someone at school who they haven't shown appreciation to. Then, walking them to the faculty mailboxes to leave them for those people.
Do you guys think that would be a good lesson in gratitude? I think it's apropro for the holidays if nothing else.
And...so...today was better...thanks for asking.
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posted by Tamara @ 4:43 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
good glad to hear it
Tamara, I feel for you. Really. It's always a challenging situation, and sometimes you can't win for losing. You've got one of the better classes too. I'm not going to suggest a new approach to pedagogy, but I think it's always useful to mix it up a bit, and take them away from their comfort zones & environments. That's difficult to plan for, and requires much extra work in lesson plans, but sometimes it breaks though to a bit more of the class. Inventive exercises like the one you suggested help, but you need to tap into their emotions too. What makes you angry or sad? When & why? What do you think we can do to try and resolve these issues? These may be too loaded to start with, but it's a very confusing age when they're dealing with all sorts of side issues at home, and many of them will have unstable home environments. Ask them to imagine better worlds. What would be their ideal world? Who would populate it, and what would the rules be? How might they sanction people who do not behave well on their little island paradise? That may be a better but indirect way of accessing some of this raw emotion. The key is to draw more of them in and to involve more of them into being there & learning a bit of something. It can be a very slow climb though.
But disruptive kids have always been a serious problem & issue. I'm for complete control by the teacher of the classroom environment, and that means disruptive kids should be dealt with immediately & effectively. Again, much harder said than done. But it's always been a constant struggle, and is one of the main reasons why so many teachers leave the profession after only 5 years or so.
I'd also try music too. Disruptive kids would be played off stage with bagpipes or an accordion. But hey, they called me crazy when I suggested this too! Cheers & Good Luck! 'VJ'
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