Sunday, September 13, 2009

The Year So Far...

I began this year feeling very confident in my teaching skills. I have grown a lot as a educator since that first class I had in 2007. So I thought I would write a little about how the year as gone so far.

Most of the other teachers are intimidated by this year's third grade class. They are a handful. I think this has mostly to do with the fact that the class is top heavy with boys. There are also a lot of kids with IEPs. Last year, these kids didn't have the best teacher. She gave them a lot of free time and during what teaching time there was, there wasn't much structure or very many expectations of them. In fact, last year's third grade teacher asked not be put back into the third grade because she knew that these were the kids she would receive.

There are also some things that set this class apart in a good way. This class is the first class of the school, they were the first kindergarten class. Not all of them returned of course, but there are a handful of kids that continue to come back each year. Because they are the first class, they are also the most bilingual, or should be. They've had the bilingual education from day one. It wasn't perfect. We the teachers, are still learning the best way to make this work in our classrooms, but we're getting better at it each year as well.

When I was asked to take on the third grade I was really excited. As I have mentioned before, I had a lot of these kids when they were in Kindergarten. I liked the idea of having them again. I knew walking in that it was going to be a challenge.

I spent the first two weeks talking over them to get their attention. At the end of the third week, I realized that that definitely wasn't going to work the whole year because by Thursday, I was having trouble talking normally and my voice was hoarse. So I decided to borrow yet another page from Sophia.

When I need their attention and they are talking or laughing or running around, I put my arm up in the air with five fingers up. Counting in my head, I scan the room for about seven seconds. When the children see me with my hand up that is their signal to stop talking, laughing or running around, they put their hand in the air. If everyone is looking at me, I'm able to give directions or whatever it was I needed their attention for. If I get to seven in my head and I still don't have everyone's attention, I begin counting down the fingers on my hand. They know that if I get all the way down to zero fingers, they get a mark on the board. If by the end of the morning or afternoon (whichever part of the day I happen to have them that week) they have five or less marks on the board, they get extra recess, 6 or more less recess.

So far I've been amazed at how this has worked. There are days when they gain recess and days when they lose it. When they get to the point where they are having extra recess everyday, I'll make it four or less and so on and so forth. This way the bar is always moving, yet they still know exactly what is expected of them. I like that I was able to come with a system that rewards as well as punishes. They know that they have to work together as a team to get the extra recess and so even the timid ones who rarely talk out of turn have begun turning to their classmates and encouraging them to follow the rules.

One day, perhaps four days or so into the new system, Mr. Rama came in to talk to me about a student in my other class with an I.E.P. I had to stop what I was doing in order to speak to him. (Which is fine, frustrating for me when it happens numerous times throughout the day, but fine.) As we talked the noise in the classroom became louder and louder and as I was about to interrupt Mr. Rama to put my hand up, the children did it on their own! It was awesome! I erased one their marks on the board and told them if they continued to monitor themselves successfully I would be willing to erase one of their marks! I was so impressed!

This method is not working as well with the fourth graders. I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm going to keep using with them in the hopes that it'll snap one of these days.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of my day is the bathroom break we have to take mid morning. Last year, it always took what I felt to be a bigger than necessary chunk out of my teaching time in the mornings. This was because of the usual things, getting the kids lined up and ready to go, getting them to walk quietly in the hallway, keeping them from fooling around in the bathroom. These along with the unusual thing, our bathrooms aren't in the school, they are across the driveway in the cafeteria.

This year, I was determined to make this process work with a bit more ease. I made a deal with the kids if they get could line up quickly and quietly, walk quietly in a line, behave in the bathroom as well as get back in line afterwards I would let them run races on the playground for a few minutes. Even with the extra few minutes for the races, which I think are good for them anyway as it gets them moving, I think we're saving time.

This, thankfully, has been working for both grades, though they aren't earning the races everyday, they are trying and they like the reward.

I think the best part about this year so far is that I have been actively thinking about being positive all the time. This is indeed another page from Sophia's book. I was always impressed at how positive she was, even when things were particularly difficult.

After teaching the sixth grade for the last half of last year, anything was going to be better. I didn't like my job at the end of last year at all, which made me sad and more likely to be negative. I was stressed out about everything, all the time. As the year was ending, I took solace in the fact that I had a job, as I was hearing about people around me and back home were losing theirs. I am happy to say that I'm back to enjoying my job this year, I'm taking things in stride and walking in each morning with a smile on my face. It feels good.

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