Many things have happened since my last post. Below are the top 10 highlights of the last 2 weeks.
1. I found out that I do not have a teaching job for the 2011-2012 school year.
2. Survived the naughty boys in my summer school class.
3. Raised the fluency scores of 90% of my summer school students.
4. Successfully kept my cool during the daily district walk-throughs of my summer school class.
5. Received MANY complements from district officials about my teaching and classroom management abilities but STILL....no job!
6. I filed for unemployment.
7. I applied for 30+ non-teaching jobs that I am not fully sure I am qualified for.
8. I came to the realization that instead of spending my college years pursuing a career in teaching, I should have become a nurse, social worker, or therapist (there seems to be an abundance of jobs for these people).
9. Experienced a week of depression over the fact that I am a 30 year old, college educated woman with a Masters and I STILL can't get a job.
10. Have had to explain the reasons for my unemployment despite my qualifications to family and friends more times than I would like to count only to be told, "But they say they need teachers ALL the time!"
Here's to hoping something good comes my way and soon!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Summer School-Week 1
So, I decided to teach summer school intervention this year for two reasons. 1. I still do not know if I have a job for the 2011-2012 school year and 2. I wanted to make some extra money. As it turned out, it was a good thing I applied for the position since I still don't know if I have a job for the upcoming school year.
This was the first week of summer school and I have to say it has been the most exhausting 4 days I've experienced for quite some time. I'm teaching 3rd grade intervention. These students will be in 4th grade next year and maybe it's just me but I just don't see how. Let me back up. I have 17 boys and 5 girls in my class. Did I mention there are 17 boys!!!! Holy moly...my work is cut out for me. And there are only 3 weeks left!
As a whole, the boys in this group are the most exasperating bunch I have encountered in my short teaching career. I have tried many things but nothing has worked yet. The following are the techniques I and my aide (even with an aide they are crazy monkey children) have tried to no avail.
1. Establishing class rules and consequences as a class.
2. Developing teams for cooperative learning/table groupings-at the end of the week the team with the most points gets to go to the treasure box. Teams can earn or lose points depending on their behavior and ability to work as a team.
3. Proximity to students making poor choices (shouting out, distracting others, laying down on the desk).
4. Temporarily taking away chairs from students who are not sitting correctly.
5. Time out in the classroom.
6. Losing recess time.
7. Giving M&M's to reward students who are on task, participating, and good citizens.
8. The class earns time to play Study Island, Around the World, and Spelling Bee.
None of it has worked. Select students have even been pulled out to have serious discussions regarding behavior with the Summer School Principal...and yes, parents have been informed. So where do I go from there? It is impossible to motivate a student or students who do not care about their learning. These students do not even care how their poor choices affect other students learning in the class. I think it is very sad and disappointing to see this type of attitude in such young students. I have 3 more weeks with this group. This is my challenge to teach the students who do care and attempt to motivate the students who do not care to change their negative attitude to a positive one. I welcome your suggestions!
This was the first week of summer school and I have to say it has been the most exhausting 4 days I've experienced for quite some time. I'm teaching 3rd grade intervention. These students will be in 4th grade next year and maybe it's just me but I just don't see how. Let me back up. I have 17 boys and 5 girls in my class. Did I mention there are 17 boys!!!! Holy moly...my work is cut out for me. And there are only 3 weeks left!
As a whole, the boys in this group are the most exasperating bunch I have encountered in my short teaching career. I have tried many things but nothing has worked yet. The following are the techniques I and my aide (even with an aide they are crazy monkey children) have tried to no avail.
1. Establishing class rules and consequences as a class.
2. Developing teams for cooperative learning/table groupings-at the end of the week the team with the most points gets to go to the treasure box. Teams can earn or lose points depending on their behavior and ability to work as a team.
3. Proximity to students making poor choices (shouting out, distracting others, laying down on the desk).
4. Temporarily taking away chairs from students who are not sitting correctly.
5. Time out in the classroom.
6. Losing recess time.
7. Giving M&M's to reward students who are on task, participating, and good citizens.
8. The class earns time to play Study Island, Around the World, and Spelling Bee.
None of it has worked. Select students have even been pulled out to have serious discussions regarding behavior with the Summer School Principal...and yes, parents have been informed. So where do I go from there? It is impossible to motivate a student or students who do not care about their learning. These students do not even care how their poor choices affect other students learning in the class. I think it is very sad and disappointing to see this type of attitude in such young students. I have 3 more weeks with this group. This is my challenge to teach the students who do care and attempt to motivate the students who do not care to change their negative attitude to a positive one. I welcome your suggestions!
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