Thank goodness for 4 day weeks. I'm in a coffee shop trying to lesson plan, so I think I'll go with a short overview of my week and then get back to (semi-)productivity.
Things currently making me frustrated:
- Having to send kids out of class
- My students' unfortunate habit of copying the wrong test answers from each other
- Late trains
- Early mornings
- Unproductive department meetings
- Grading tests (and not getting anything above a 55%)
- Graduate school classes
- The 20th day of school
Things keeping me from punching someone:
- Students who come in for extra help
- My coworkers
- Trains that run express
- Sunday afternoons in cute coffee shops with the roomies
- Possible visit from Caitlin in a few weeks
- Standardized testing
- Friday nights pretending like we're still in college
- Getting ahead on lesson planning
- Reassurance from other TFAers that I'm not the only one whose students don't seem to be learning
- The distant promise of Thanksgiving break
As long as that second list stays longer, I think I'll be ok...
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Week Two
Week two is moving along slowly but surely. Things seem (a little) more under control this week. I still can't make copies, take attendance, keep track of grades, or get nearly enough sleep, but I'm making it work. One of my classes is continuing to drive me crazy though. For the life of me, I cannot make them shut up... but I guess that's one of the hazards of the job.
Aside from them though, today went well. I basically got a period off today when the freshmen had an assembly. The remaining upperclassmen and I took the opportunity to play Hangman. At one point, the category was singer, and the girl was trying to get us to guess Lady Gaga. No one seemed to be getting it, so she offered a hint. She looked at me cautiously, said "No offense... she's white." It kind of intrigues me that people think that might be offensive to me--as if I somehow hadn't noticed that at a school of 1600 kids, I am one of less than 40 white people (all but one of whom are other teachers).
I also got a few interesting comments from students regarding my hair today. "Is it always that curly?" "Does it ever get nappy?" "Are you Caucasian?""I'm going to take out these braids and wear my hair like yours tomorrow." I don't know what the interest in my hair is (I also had a student this summer who listed it as her favorite thing about me on the end of course survey), but it amuses me.
I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting a sense of who these kids are. I know most of the names (in most of the classes at least), and it's easy to see who will excel, who doesn't care about the class, who will cause trouble. One think I am curious about is what they're thinking about the school. They seem confused about why I would take this job. I'm not sure if they know about TFA, if they know I'm part of it, or if they even understand why it exists. I also wonder if they understand what a precarious position the school is in, or the kinds of things that are being done behind the scenes to fix it. I'm guessing they're blissfully ignorant about most things, but with high schoolers it's hard to say.
Now for an (already too late) bedtime. Only two more days this week, and then the possibility that I may actually have the energy to do something fun this weekend.
Aside from them though, today went well. I basically got a period off today when the freshmen had an assembly. The remaining upperclassmen and I took the opportunity to play Hangman. At one point, the category was singer, and the girl was trying to get us to guess Lady Gaga. No one seemed to be getting it, so she offered a hint. She looked at me cautiously, said "No offense... she's white." It kind of intrigues me that people think that might be offensive to me--as if I somehow hadn't noticed that at a school of 1600 kids, I am one of less than 40 white people (all but one of whom are other teachers).
I also got a few interesting comments from students regarding my hair today. "Is it always that curly?" "Does it ever get nappy?" "Are you Caucasian?""I'm going to take out these braids and wear my hair like yours tomorrow." I don't know what the interest in my hair is (I also had a student this summer who listed it as her favorite thing about me on the end of course survey), but it amuses me.
I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting a sense of who these kids are. I know most of the names (in most of the classes at least), and it's easy to see who will excel, who doesn't care about the class, who will cause trouble. One think I am curious about is what they're thinking about the school. They seem confused about why I would take this job. I'm not sure if they know about TFA, if they know I'm part of it, or if they even understand why it exists. I also wonder if they understand what a precarious position the school is in, or the kinds of things that are being done behind the scenes to fix it. I'm guessing they're blissfully ignorant about most things, but with high schoolers it's hard to say.
Now for an (already too late) bedtime. Only two more days this week, and then the possibility that I may actually have the energy to do something fun this weekend.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Has it really only been 3 days?
Man, the first week of school is exhausting. And stressful. And frustrating. But that's not really what I'm here to talk about. I unfortunately missed Obama's education speech the other day, but after looking over it (you can check it out here if you haven't already)
and reading a few blog posts about it, I realized that one of the students whose story he talks about, Shantell Steve, is a student at my school. She's not in any of my classes, unfortunately, but I still thought it was a fun fact.
and reading a few blog posts about it, I realized that one of the students whose story he talks about, Shantell Steve, is a student at my school. She's not in any of my classes, unfortunately, but I still thought it was a fun fact.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
First Day
Today was my first day of teaching. As I walked to the L stop in the dark at 5:40 this morning, sipping coffee from my sorority travel mug and contemplating the last time I was out of my house that early (still out from the night before), I felt decidedly unqualified to teach anyone anything.
Getting to school involves a 45 minute train ride followed by a 10 minute bus ride. This is not exactly the most convenient method of transportation, and my coworkers have politely suggested that (a) riding the bus with my students will be hella awkward and (b) I will get shot. Nevertheless, I mostly enjoy the commute. The train ride is good for reading or grading papers (or, more realistically, napping). And the bus conveniently drives past the school where I taught this summer--a nice reminder that if I can survive Institute, I should be able to survive anything my school throws at me.
Today I managed to deal with the lack of copy paper; my inability to log into the computers or access the attendance system; the students strolling into class 35 minutes late; the class with 8 people not on my roster and about 15 more students than chairs; even the teacherless chemistry class that I was compelled to spontaneously take over (yay OTBF!). The one thing TFA did a crappy job preparing me for? Being on my feet for four and a half hours. It's hard to imagine how I'm going to do this for 10 more months. At this point, I'm less concerned with teaching and more concerned with the possibility of passing out from exhaustion in the middle of class one day.
Hopefully things will settle down by the end of the week. Maybe by then I'll be able to make copies, stop getting to school before 7 in the morning to prepare things, and squeeze in more than 4 hours of sleep. In the meantime... wish me luck for day 2!
Getting to school involves a 45 minute train ride followed by a 10 minute bus ride. This is not exactly the most convenient method of transportation, and my coworkers have politely suggested that (a) riding the bus with my students will be hella awkward and (b) I will get shot. Nevertheless, I mostly enjoy the commute. The train ride is good for reading or grading papers (or, more realistically, napping). And the bus conveniently drives past the school where I taught this summer--a nice reminder that if I can survive Institute, I should be able to survive anything my school throws at me.
Today I managed to deal with the lack of copy paper; my inability to log into the computers or access the attendance system; the students strolling into class 35 minutes late; the class with 8 people not on my roster and about 15 more students than chairs; even the teacherless chemistry class that I was compelled to spontaneously take over (yay OTBF!). The one thing TFA did a crappy job preparing me for? Being on my feet for four and a half hours. It's hard to imagine how I'm going to do this for 10 more months. At this point, I'm less concerned with teaching and more concerned with the possibility of passing out from exhaustion in the middle of class one day.
Hopefully things will settle down by the end of the week. Maybe by then I'll be able to make copies, stop getting to school before 7 in the morning to prepare things, and squeeze in more than 4 hours of sleep. In the meantime... wish me luck for day 2!
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