My adventures as a new teacher

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.