Finally, another post!
Man, oh man. You will not believe the week month year I've been having! The week I last posted had me staying late 2 days for parent conferences. We also had a lockdown (armed intruder response. *tsk* that is the way of the world nowadays). Then, last week we started keeping a couple of boys afterschool (as a team) to help then catch up, but that has turned into a mental wrestling match each time. bleh.
On top of that, I have so many D and F students that I'm swamped! So many people to help that I can't keep track of them all nor do I have the energy to make them accountable to any detentions I've given them. This group of students is lacking in a lot of skills and motivation. They don't seem to want to do better. There's only so much we as teachers can do; eventually the student has to WANT to do something and then actually follow through. Remember that machine from The Princess Bride that sucks Wesley's life away? Well, at the end of every day I feel like I've been attached to that machine and 1 year of my life has been sucked away.
Wait! there's more: we (the whole district) are being audited by the county education office, so there's been tons of meetings and memos that admin has generated to make sure we are able to tell the auditors, "Yes, I've been made aware of such-and-such." They are also observing each teacher over the course of these couple of days. They didn't get to me today, so I'm supposing they'll see me tomorrow. I've started a differentiated section of this unit and right now the kids are doing independent work out of the textbook, so I hope I don't get dinged for that! Normally, I'm very proud of my attempts at differentation, but now I'm afraid it'll look like I'm not actively teaching.
AAANNNNDDD I've got a student teacher. He's pretty OK, but reads way too much into what I'm saying or totally misinterprets what the heck I meant. Definitely some sort of disconnect going on. He's also very eager and really wants to help, but by the time I explain what he can do to help me it would've been faster to just do it myself. I snapped at him about that last week and I still feel bad about it, but I will admit that he's a bit more independent now (that is he leaves me alone and finds things to do). Now, don't get me wrong; he's a great guy who has a lot to offer. He just needs to learn how to tone it down a bit. Now that he knows how to make copies, that's his main job. Sad how a large part of every teacher's prep is taken up by making copies. Almost makes me long for a slate and bit of chalk.
On top of that, I have so many D and F students that I'm swamped! So many people to help that I can't keep track of them all nor do I have the energy to make them accountable to any detentions I've given them. This group of students is lacking in a lot of skills and motivation. They don't seem to want to do better. There's only so much we as teachers can do; eventually the student has to WANT to do something and then actually follow through. Remember that machine from The Princess Bride that sucks Wesley's life away? Well, at the end of every day I feel like I've been attached to that machine and 1 year of my life has been sucked away.
Wait! there's more: we (the whole district) are being audited by the county education office, so there's been tons of meetings and memos that admin has generated to make sure we are able to tell the auditors, "Yes, I've been made aware of such-and-such." They are also observing each teacher over the course of these couple of days. They didn't get to me today, so I'm supposing they'll see me tomorrow. I've started a differentiated section of this unit and right now the kids are doing independent work out of the textbook, so I hope I don't get dinged for that! Normally, I'm very proud of my attempts at differentation, but now I'm afraid it'll look like I'm not actively teaching.
AAANNNNDDD I've got a student teacher. He's pretty OK, but reads way too much into what I'm saying or totally misinterprets what the heck I meant. Definitely some sort of disconnect going on. He's also very eager and really wants to help, but by the time I explain what he can do to help me it would've been faster to just do it myself. I snapped at him about that last week and I still feel bad about it, but I will admit that he's a bit more independent now (that is he leaves me alone and finds things to do). Now, don't get me wrong; he's a great guy who has a lot to offer. He just needs to learn how to tone it down a bit. Now that he knows how to make copies, that's his main job. Sad how a large part of every teacher's prep is taken up by making copies. Almost makes me long for a slate and bit of chalk.
posted by Hi! I'm Janola. at 8:16 PM
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