First Week Reflections

I survived the first week! I think it went very well. I'm getting used to the kids already and they are getting used to me.

My goal for every first week of school is to make students feel comfortable in my classroom and help them achieve something so that they want to come back. I give them assignments and tests that I know they can do well on in that first week, so they can gain confidence in their abilities.

Math is always the subject that kids say they hate. It's the subject that most kids think is the hardest and the most boring. I have to work hard to make them feel like they can do the work and do it well.

I did make my first phone call home this week. I will be making many more calls - positive ones. I make lots of positive phone calls home. The first one was for a boy who wasn't sure if he was going to be able to make it at our new school. He went home on the third day of class and wasn't sure if he was going to come back. He was nervous and having anxiety attacks about doing well. I called him one night. I didn't get anyone, I left a voicemail. I told his mom that I was sorry he was feeling badly about school and hoped he would come back. I told them to email me or call me at school and I would talk with them anytime.

Guess what. Next day, he shows up for school. I couldn't get him to do much, but I knew that just being there was a big step for him. On Friday, not only was he there in class, but he was participating! What a difference a phone call makes.

So the week went well. I've got my lessons planned for next week and tests are graded from Friday. Every single student is starting out my class with an A or a B. That's the way I like it. My goal is to keep it that way for as long as I can. These kids need it.

1st Block vs. 4th Block

Today I taught the Following Directions and Taking Notes lesson. I think it went pretty well. I had a few mental hang ups that go along with any new lesson that you teach, but overall, I got the point across. However, I have a different problem.

I am such an awesome teacher by the time I hit 4th block. I am a terrible teacher (relatively) in 1st block. By the time I teach a lesson in 4th block, I'm in the rhythm and I know exactly how to say everything I want to say. How am I supposed to improve for my 1st block class? The poor kids will never get as good instruction as 4th block it seems.

I am really not a morning person. I can get up early and do what needs to be done, but I always function better at night. This is the reason that I will always be up decently late even when I'm tired; I do my best thinking between the hours of 7 and 11 pm. So 1st block is rough for not only the students, but for ME!

The other problem I have is that when I try out new lessons like I did today, I've never had a chance to practice it on anybody. 1st block is my guinea pig class. By the time I get to 4th block, I'm pro. Even 2nd block is better than 1st.

As a disclaimer, 1st block still gets good instruction, I just know that by the time I hit 4th block I am so good at using the exact right words and instructions. By the time I hit 4th block, I've already taught the lesson three times, so 4th block flows so much better tan 1st block.

How do I get that to happen for 1st block?

The Real First Day of School

I think today was a success. The real first day of school is never the most exciting day in my classroom, but I got everything done that I needed to do. We reviewed the rules and consequences (good and bad) and we role played and practiced all the procedures that are essential parts of how I like my classroom to run.

Yes, I'm slightly OCD. But yes, I think it helps my teaching. My room is extremely organized and structured. But that structure actually makes it easier for us to break out of it later on in the year.

Let me explain. I like to use all sorts of activities to teach. There are never any days when my students simply watch me put notes on the board and do practice problems the rest of the block. BORING! We do group activities, art projects, music activities, learning stations, all sorts of things. I'll try just about any activity once and see if it works for me, but in order to do all of the fun things, I have to set boundaries.

The students have to know that even when we are doing something fun, they still know how I want them to behave. Simply doing a group activity does not mean you sit there and talk as loudly as you want to your friend for 20 minutes. They have to learn how to follow directions. They learn that they are responsible for their actions and they learn how I want them to behave for certain lessons. So today, I laid the ground rules for that.

We role played how to come into class, how to sharpen your pencil, how to answer questions, how to turn in homework, and how to come to attention after an activity. As I said before, it's not the most exciting day of the year, but it's important.

I think that at the least I got my point across. In such a small intimate setting, I think it would be easy for the kids to think that they can walk all over you, because they know from day one that you care about them and that this school is different. But even though I like to have a good time, I think the kids know that I take this school very seriously and I expect the best from them.

Or at least I hope they do.

Tomorrow is the "Following Directions and Taking Notes" day. I'm kind of excited about it. I also have some Icebreaker games to throw in the mix and a funny Power Point about myself to show them. I'm interested to see how they take it. I ask them for so much information about them so I can get to know them better that I felt it was only fair to give them equal amounts of information about me. I didn't do this in Mississippi. The situation was different. I had to maintain a certain distance from my students and didn't let them know so much about me. But in this Alternative setting, I felt like it was appropriate to let them see more of who I am and why I am there.

I don't get mushy. And it's really nothing too personal. I simply am going to tell them the same things I asked them to tell me - my favorite foods, my favorite color, my hobbies - that kind of thing.


On a completely different note, tomorrow I have to wear dress sandals because of the blister on my heel that I developed today. The shoes I wore today are my regular old black teacher shoes, but they haven't been worn since - well, since I last taught almost two years ago. Note to self: break teacher shoes back in after summer vacation and before school starts.

The First Day of School

So today was the first day of school. How many teacher blogs start like that?

Really though, in my case, this was the fake first day of school. Today was a simple Round Robin Get to Know the Faculty and Staff day. Our Alternative School is small and has a very intimate setting, so we spent most of the day letting the students get to know us.

Tomorrow is the first real day. Tomorrow we have real schedules and students will actually go to their assigned classes. Tomorrow I will start to lay down the law.

Well, most of the law. See...I think I get to be a different kind of teacher in this situation. In Mississippi I had to be hard nosed almost all the time. Yeah, I smiled. Yeah, my kids knew I cared, but I always had to be serious.

This situation is very different. As I met my students today for the first time, I knew why they were there. Each of them had filled out an application to be there. Each of them had gone through an interview process to be accepted. Each of them has reasons why they truly want to be in this school and involved in the project. They know that this is a second chance for them, and for most of them, they want to be there.

There will always be a couple of kids who won't take this type of school seriously, but as I looked into the eyes of my new students, I could tell that minus those few, these kids really want to be in this school.

How exciting is that?

I never had that in Mississippi. I had the occasional student who wanted to be there, but for the most part, they all hated school. They didn't see the value of learning...I had to try and teach them that along with everything else.

But these kids at this new school have already messed up once. They realize that without help, they won't graduate. They want to graduate and they are excited that someone cares enough to help them.

So tomorrow, I will really get to teach my class. I will start getting to know my kids, and we'll see how things go from there.

The Plan

I have a plan.

It is possible that I will have four preps this year. Count them. Four. One, two, three, four. That's a pretty heavy load. But I don't have too much of a choice. Being the only math teacher in the alternative school means that any students who need in class instruction are going to have to be taught by me. Yes, some of the kids will be doing independent study online classes, but most of the kids are behind in math and will see me at some point during the day. The last time I spoke with the Director of the school, he said that the classes they were probably going to offer are Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1A, Algebra 1B, and Integrated Algebra/Geometry. Pre-Algebra is self-explanatory, Algebra 1A and Algebra 1B are just one full year of Algebra I split up into two semesters for block scheduling purposes, but Integrated Algebra/Geometry? Huh?

I took most of my free time today and sat down to figure out my curriculum for the first semester of Integrated Algebra/Geometry. I've taught Algebra, and I've taught Geometry, but never have I taught a class that is supposed to cover the basics of both. From the course description:

"This course is designed to aide students who require additional work at the skills acquired in PreAlgebra. Students will continue to study basic algebraic skills while integrating geometric concepts."

What the heck does that mean?

So I took the day and planned it out. I had been a little overwhelmed with the idea of planning for four separate classes, but when I just looked at one it wasn't so bad. It was time consuming, but also good for me to think about. In planning I learned more about the direction I want to take the class and almost had fun doing it. In fact, I'm done. No, I haven't written all the lesson plans, but I have mapped out what I am going to teach and in what order.

Yes, it will probably change, but I like to have a plan. I would rather have something to scrap than nothing to start with at all.

I have three more days to work before the school year starts (I try not to do work on Sunday). What a coincidence I have three more preps to work on! So each day, I'm just going to take one prep and plan it out for the year. That's manageable.

And at least I have a plan.

Taking Notes

My first week's plan is as set in stone as it is going to get. I have hashed out how I will handle each day as best I can. The first week of school is always subject to change, but for now I have a plan. And as Harry Wong says, "If you don't have a plan, you are planning to fail." At least I'm one step ahead for now.

I've never taught in a block schedule situation before, so this will be new for me. I teach four 75 minute blocks each day and I have 75 min of personal prep time each morning. So today I sat down and wrote one of my first block schedule lesson plans, and I have to say that I'm quite excited about it.

The first week of school I always spend teaching rules and procedures. I practice procedures with the kids over and over and over...and over...and over again. A new procedure that I'm going to practice with the students this year is how to take notes and follow directions. I'm going to introduce several note taking techniques and we're going to practice them by studying the life of Albert Einstein, my personal hero.

You might say, why teach high school kids how to take notes? Shouldn't they know how to do that already?

"Shouldn't they know how to do that already?"

I hear that all the time from people when I tell them some of the simple tasks and arithmetic that I teach high schoolers. Sadly, no. The kids I teach don't know how to do these types of things a lot of the time. They don't know how to behave properly in a classroom. They don't know how to take notes. They don't know how to study on their own. They don't know how to research for a project. They don't even know how to line up at the door.

So I teach them.

Now, my classroom is not a room where the kids sit and I lecture and they scribble notes all day long. But there are times when taking notes is an appropriate thing for them to do. I'm going to take most of a day to teach them how to know when it is appropriate and how to go about doing said activity.

Such a simple skill, but so useful. If I can teach them these simple things, they will be that much more prepared to go back to the main high school.

The Room Is Almost Ready!

So my mom and my husband and I spent most of the afternoon at the school getting my room ready today. I was a little stressed about it, because I'm starting from scratch with this alternative project. I was afraid it would take forever, but we were so quick and efficient. The bulletin boards have paper and borders. Expectations, procedures and rewards are posted. Consequences are yet to come when I find out if I can hold detentions or not. The desks are in order. My closet and my desk are stocked and ready to go. I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting out block numbers for a number line at the front of the room.

And why spend so much time making the room look...well...pretty? Because it helps the kids. Even high school students like to see a nicely decorated room. When there are posters and pictures on the walls, it always seems like a more inviting classroom - almost homey. My number one priority is to make my students feel safe and comfortable. Many of the students at the alternative school come from very terrible home situations, just like many of my students in Mississippi. I want them to feel like my classroom is a place where they are respected and safe.

I didn't do anything extravagant in decorating, but at least I don't have bare walls and bulletin boards. As the year goes on, I plan on adding a few more displays for the students, but for now, I think it looks pretty good.