My adventures as a new teacher

After my last post the semester quickly came to an end and there was all the insanity that entails. I had to write my first final and get final semester grades ready.  It was an experience!!   After that we had a 3 week break and now it’s back to the grind. Monday we had an in-service day at school and yesterday and today I attended a seminar on differentiated instruction.

The seminar was supposed to be a practical course for instituting differentiated instruction in your classroom.  The instructor gave us lots of ideas and actually had us use a bunch of them so we could see how they work.  We also got a pretty good sized book with tons of ideas in it.  But, much as I was when I started my teacher training, I was pretty much like a dear in the headlights.  I could not see how these things could be implemented in my classroom.  I’m having trouble seeing how I can do these things in my classes but in talking to another new teacher I realized it is probably just because I’m new and still finding my way.  Also, I don’t have to do these things all at once.  I can start very slowly, baby steps.

Sitting in the seminar I was thinking about what I wanted to institute in my classes.  One thing that is critical is that you can only differentiate lessons when you have done assessments to determine it is needed. I was thinking of all the ways I can do assessments in my classes.  For pre-algebra I was thinking of the pre-chapter tests or the skills worksheets their books have.  Tonight, as I sat down to get an assessment ready for tomorrow I realized that I do an assessment everyday and didn’t even realize it.  Everyday they come in there is a bellwork sheet for them to do while I take attendance and get organized for the lesson.  That bellwork is the perfect daily assessment, I just having been using the information those papers contain.  So starting tomorrow I am going to have them do bellwork and I am going to review everyone and use them to differentiate if necessary.  I’m very excited about this.

For my chemistry classes I got  a couple of good ideas also.  The instructor had us make these True and False cards. She would then ask questions and we would answer true or false.  If we got it right we got to play a bingo game for a prize.  This is a great way to quickly assess understanding and to get an answer from everyone in class. There are lots of times I ask questions but only get answers from a couple of students.  By using the T/F cards I can see what everyone in the class is thinking….

There are many more ideas that I got from that but those are where I’m starting.  I do many assessments but I don’t always use the information I receive from those assessments…. Well, I’m feeling a lot more confident this semester and I’m going to use these things.

The semester grades have to be done today.  We still have a week left in the semester but today the grades are due.  Okay.  The finals are next weeks.  Then that’s it, pau, Christmas Break.  Wow!!  That sure came up fast.

So much has happened this semester I don’t even know where to begin.  When I started the semester I was so scared.  Afraid of not being ready.  Afraid that I wouldn’t be able to teach chemistry.  Afraid that I wouldn’t be able to handle the students.  Just afraid.  I thought will I make it through until Christmas break??  Now here we are.  Wow.  Lately, the last month or two, I’ve been feeling so much more confident.  I don’t panic over lessons. I don’t plan to within an inch of my life.  I’ve learned to relax and have fun with the students.  I’ve learned to let go a little bit and that feels good.  It feels so natural now.  I feel like I’ve been doing this forever.  I feel like I’m where I belong.  And that feels really good.  We’ve already started to talk about next year and possible offerings.  I would love to teach a marine science class, either biology or oceanography or a semester of each.  I’ve also had students ask me to teach AP Chemistry.  I took that as quite a compliment.  So the semester is drawing to a close and what a wild ride it has been.  I’m looking forward to a break and next semester.

The whole point of my starting this blog was to keep a running journal of my first year as a teacher.  Everything is so new and I’m learning so much that I really wanted to write it down so I can refer back to it.  Unfortunately, I’m working so hard at being a new teacher that I have no time to blog.  Kind of defeats the purpose doesn’t it??   Anyway, I’m going to make a real effort to keep this up.  Maybe I should end my days here.  Before I leave school I could log on write out how the day went and not the things I have to do.  Maybe I’ll try that.  After Thanksgiving break that is   I have the next 5 days off.  Yea!!!  When I go back I have my final observation on Monday and my exit interview on Tuesday and I will be done with the teaching certification.  All I will need then is to write my thesis and my masters will be complete.  Yea!!!  I’m a happy camper.

Overall my classes have been going pretty well.  I’m relaxing more and really having fun with them.  I’m also not freaking out so much over lesson plans.  I have a general idea in my head of what I want to do and I can usually find something fun to do with it.  In my certification classes they beat into our heads that we have to have a detailed lesson plan well before we are to teach it.  I am rapidly discovering that doesn’t work for me.  I find that if I lay out a general plan, on day 1 I’ll cover this, on day 2 I’ll cover that, etc, and then I prep the details the night before it works better for me.  I guess because I can tap into how I’m feeling and where the class is at when I plan closer to the delivery.

Since I brought down the hammer in my chemistry classes things have been going better.  There is still talking but they seem to be more engaged so that’s good.  I gave a test and overall it went pretty well, though I did misjudge the time factor.  They did not have enough time in one class to finish the test so I had to hold it over for another class.  Ah well, that is what this year is all about right?

After this 5 day break we have 2 1/2 weeks of class, 3 days of tests and then we are done!!!  Christmas break!!!  I can not believe how quickly the time passed.  I also understand why teachers have so much time off.  First, the amount of planning that goes into teaching is enormous.  Weeknights, weekends, holidays, it’s really incredibly how much I work at this job. Secondly, teaching is exhausting.  I’ve said it before, it’s like being on stage for 5 classes a day but also all the other stuff.  There are times I find myself reading emails, planning what I’m going to do, talking to 4 students, all at the same time.  Administration wants this, students need this, I have to pee!!!!!  It gets crazy. Those moments when I find myself alone in my room I usually collapse into my chair for a few minutes.   It is definitely not like regular jobs where you have slow periods or you can take a breather whenever you need to. In teaching you have to be on when the students show up regardless of how you are feeling.  It takes a lot out of you.

So that’s my life for the last couple of weeks.  I’m going to make a real effort to post on here at least every other day, but we’ll see how it goes for the next 3 weeks.

Not that I don’t have lots of things to talk about I’m just so busy it’s hard to find time to put my thoughts into words.

I’m almost done with my masters classes and once those are done I’ll have more time.

The classes I’m teaching are going pretty well.  I started the year so worried about how I was going to cover the subject.  How I would teach things.  What kind of activities would I have, etc.  Now that I’ve got a lot of that down I’m starting to see the other things.  The late assignments that were coming in weeks late.  The students who did other class work in my class.  The insistent talking.  So I’ve brought the hammer down.  I drew a line in the sand and gave them a absolute last deadline for turning in any missing work.  From here on out they are allowed to turn assignments in for one week only.  After that it won’t be accepted.  Next semester it’s gets worse.  If it’s not turned in on time the highest grade you can get is a D. I’ve also instituted new rules about doing other things during class time.  If they are that unmotivated they are welcome to leave and fail the tests.  I’m cool with that.

I also instigated a parent teacher conference for a student in my pre-algebra class.  He is just completely disengaged in class.  He doesn’t even pretend to try.  He’s got an F and I don’t see how he’s going to bring it up.  Ugh!!!

Tomorrow is an open house for prospective students and their parents.  We all have to be there and make a short presentation in our classroom about what we teach.  I hate this kind of stuff.  I hate talking about myself and what I do, I prefer to just do it.

Okay, that’s all for tonight.  I’m heading to bed so I’m fresh for the open house tomorrow.

My observation went really well.  Luckily I had delivered that lesson twice before and by the time I got to the third time I had worked out most of the kinks.  It went well, the kids were great, and my professor was impressed with me.  So that’s good.

Last week I got an email from the Hawaii Association of Independant Schools (HAIS).  Seems that NOAA (National Ocean and Atmospheric Adminstration) brings it’s big boat to Hawaii and takes students out on it every year.  We were invited to apply for a day trip for 6 of our students.  I applied and another science teacher applied (though we didn’t know about the other at the time).  We just found out on Friday that we were both picked.  We get to go and take 6 students from our school.  We are going to have an application process starting on Monday.  The cruise is on Monday, November 2nd so we don’t have a lot of time to get this together.  Anyway, this is so cool.  I love being a teacher and having opportunities like this…

Even though I have a job teaching I am still in the process of getting certified.  In order to do that I have to be observed teaching 5 times in a 10 week period.  Tomorrow is the first of them.  My professor from HPU will be coming to observe me teach a chemistry class.  Normally that wouldn’t bother me too much BUT……  I am very tired this week and just can’t seem to get my act together.  Also, the lesson I have to teach is B-O-R-I-N-G.  If I had more energy I could probably make it more interesting and exciting, but the way I feel that’s just not possible. So what to do??  I’m not that worried about my observation, it will be fine, but I guess I can’t help but stress a little.

The good news is that I had to write these reflections to address the national standards and I was having trouble with them.  I talked about this in a previous post and I was whining about how I don’t get all deep and philosophical about myself and my teaching.   I do think about things but in much more practical terms then they seemed to be asking for.  We have a textbook that is supposed to help us write these reflections and it was really tripping me up.  So I threw the book out and just wrote them in my practical, straight forward, no nonsense way.  It worked.  My professor was impressed and said I really seemed to have a handle on this stuff.  Huh!!  Who knew……  When I do things the way someone else says doesn’t work so good but when I follow my own instincts it works out.  Hmmm….maybe there’s a lesson there???

Let’s start with the classes I’m teaching.  Pre-algebra is going just fine.  That’s pretty easy, follow the book and progress at a steady pace.  Half way through the chapter we have a quiz, at the end of the chapter we have a test.  Pretty simple and easy to plan.

Chemistry is proving to be a little harder.  I don’t agree with much of the stuff that’s taught in a typical chemistry class.  There is a lot of detail that most classes go into that is completely unnecessary.  Why does a general chemistry student need to know how to calculate the dipole moment of a molecule?  So I’m skimming through the book.  I’m jumping around going in an order that I think makes more sense and I’m trying to give them a decent understanding of chemistry without bogging them under in minutae.  Of course, this means a lot more work for me.  I have to go through every section, pull out the important stuff, and put together a presentation that is clear and meaningful to them.  Today we covered the octet and duet rules, Lewis Dot Structures, and dipole moments.  I tried very hard to make it clear and understandable and I think I did.  This just creates so much work for me.  There is no pattern to follow like in Pre-algebra. I guess these are the perils of teaching right.

Now, the classes I’m taking.  This semester we will get certified as teachers.  In order to do that we have to put together a portfolio that shows how far we have come since we started. In that portfolio we are to address certain standards, how we view them, how we meet them, what we’ve done, and how it’s impacted our students.  I don’t think that way.  I am a scientist.  I am factual.  I deal in concrete matters.  I don’t deal in thinking and considering, I deal in doing and acting.  So that is incredibly tough.  This weekend I intend to power through this stuff and just get it out of my hair.

So that’s where I’ve been the last couple of weeks.  I’m working hard to keep myself ahead of the pack.  Be they a pack of teenagers or a pack of teacher candidates.

I know I haven’t posted in a while but I’ve been crazy busy.  It really is amazing how much time teaching takes up.  There is the actual time in front of the class but then there’s the hours of preparing before that happens and the hours after analyzing and grading.   Teaching is not for wusses, that’s for sure.

Right now I’m on a 2 week break. With the modified year round schedule my school uses we get 2 weeks in fall, 3 weeks at Christmas, 2 weeks in spring, and 6 weeks of summer. Not too shabby.

So far I’ve been working on my school work.  I have to have a unit plan, for a unit I’ll be teaching at the end of the semester, completed and submitted by next Wednesday. Originally it was due yesterday but the professor extended the deadline.  Whew!!  Anyway, it’s a huge project that I feel totally unprepared for and like I’m struggling through.  One of the hardest parts I seem to be having in teaching is the pacing.  I’m not sure if I’m going too fast or too slow, I try to move at a pace that feels right to me, that allows me to cover the material but not beat a dead horse.  I don’t know.  Anyway, to have to plan a unit at the end of the semester when I’m not sure of my pacing is just killing me.  Plus, since science is a building process, I’m writing this unit plan and I keep stopping wondering if I will have covered this concept already or do I need to teach it.  Have I discussed this subject or not yet??  It’s very annoying. So I’m really struggling with it.  I would imagine that English or Social Studies would be a little easier because you build on what you learned previously but not to the extent of math and science.  Oh well, I’ll get through it.

Also do next week is part of our portfolio.  That’s not too bad , we have to address the INTASC standards by writing about our understanding of them, attaching artifacts to show we’ve met them, and discussing the psychological theory behind what we did or what we think.  Have I mentioned how much I hate psychology??  I don’t understand how they can make the study of humans a “science.”  One of the tenants of science to prove something is that the results can be reproducible.  You can’t reproduce anything when you use humans.  Humans are insane and totally unpredictable.  Also, as a scientist, I can look at all angles of a problem or situation so prescribing certain motivations to human behavior makes no sense to me because there could be a thousand other motivations.  Ugh!!

My mantra is that I just need to get through this semester.  Just get through this semester.  Just get through this semester…..

My classes started again a week ago.  That means I’m back to the student and teacher position.  That’s always interesting because sometimes it’s hard to shift gears.  In the classroom you are the expert on all things where as in my class I not only have to defer to the teacher but to the other students.  I just find it an interesting juxtaposition.

For the last year, in my classes, I’ve found it difficult to completely understand the problems that the folks who were actually teaching had. I was in the classroom but only for a couple of hours a day.  I found it difficult to relate to being there full time.  Now I’m in a class full time and I’m pretty much on my own.  In the public schools, where all my other classmates teach at, there are generally more then one teacher teaching their subjects.  So if they teach math, there are 3 or 4 math teachers teaching the same thing.  In my private school, which is tiny, I’m the only chemistry teacher.  I have no one to compare notes with or to collaborate with or anything.  There are other science teachers that I can talk to but that’s about it.

For our class we have to write a unit plan and deliver at least two of the lessons from that plan while we are being observed.  In class last week I was expressing concern because as a new teacher and the only chemistry teacher, I’m not sure of the pacing.  The observation visits will be at the end of November and I have to plan the unit and lessons now.  Having never taught anything before I’m really guessing at the pacing of the curriculum.  I do have a curriculum map from the last chemistry teacher so I’m using that as a guide line.  Anyway, one of the other ladies in my class was having a hissy fit over this very thing and saying she didn’t know how she would be able to do it.  She’s only student teaching and has a mentor teacher who’s class she’s taken over. This mentor has been teaching this class for about 10 years, I’m pretty sure the mentor has an idea of what will be covered when.  I was getting so annoyed with her in class over this whole thing.  Funny, seems I have more patience with my students then I do with my adult classmates

Anyway, starting to think about this unit plan I have to develop got me looking at the way I’m going about my teaching.  In the beginning I was just trying to stay one step ahead of the students.  I would plan for the next day the night before.  By having to think about a unit that’s at the end of the semester I’ve had to look ahead.  One of the rules in teaching is to plan with the end in mind.  I haven’t been doing that but I think I’m about to start.  After next week we have two weeks off for fall break.  I think I’m going to use that time to rough out unit/lesson plans for the rest of the semester.  I’m going to develop each unit starting with what I want the students to get out of it, then work backwards from there. Now that I’m not so frenzied just teaching I can actually begin to plan what I’m going to do

I’m sitting at my desk looking out over my class and it’s one of those moments that’s absolutely perfect.  We did a lab that they enjoyed and learned something from, they are now sitting in groups finishing up the written part.  They are all on task, focused on what they are doing, but having a good time.  Working individually or in small groups, talking happily but not getting crazy.  As I sit here looking out at them I realize, this is why I want to be a teacher.  This is how I want my classes to be.  I’m realist enough to know that it won’t be like this all the time, but it’s nice to recognize these moments when they happen.