What are you thankful for?

Our class management system is a group effort. Students must work together as a group to earn a small reward on Friday. Usually the reward is free time, music video requests, chips and salsa, etc. For Thanksgiving I decided to bring in chocolate chip cookies for my small resource classes.

I asked each student to tell me what they are thankful for before getting their cookie. They gave responses like, I'm thankful I'm alive; I'm thankful for my family; I'm thankful for my ability to do good in school. Then I approached my most challenging student and I asked him what he was thankful for. He looked me right in the eye and said, "I'm thankful that you take the time out to help me." Well that floored me. This student tries everyday to push the limit to see how far he can take it before I have to talk to him. Practically everyday he asks me why he has to be in my class, and he asks almost daily to visit the nurse.

But I have not given up on him. And in return, he has been staying in class and even completing assignments. Did he realize that I won't give up on him?

I'm thankful that I am appreciated.

1st week is in the books

I've had the best educational experience, and the best student teaching experience, but nothing can truly prepare you for a real teaching position in a school. Everything I've learned in bits and pieces finally came together all at once this week. The Sunday before school I woke up at 7:30am to work on IEPs only to find out I couldn't log onto the system. I frantically called my mentor at 7:56am to ask her what to do. Thank goodness she was calmer than me and got me access into the system. Then came lesson plans and modifying others' lesson plans (that happened 7:15am on Monday morning-- 45 minutes before they were due). Then came the students at 7:35 into our first class, English 3 (it didn't seem real up until this point). We went over the syllabus and some expectations and the morning went as planned. Before I knew it, I had my prep period during 4th period. I prepped the room for my spanish students  by turning on the Smart Board, loading my presentation on Prezi, getting the online attendance checker loaded, getting the papers organized, and finally, standing by the door to meet my new students. They eagerly took their desk and listened to my presentation. Repeat for 6th period, lunch 7th, and another English class 8th period. Before I knew it, the first day was finished. Wednesday came and I was dead tired in the morning. I ordered a Venti tea at Starbucks instead of a Grande. (By the way... no one tells teachers how to strike a balance between drinking too much, which causes bathroom breaks, and drinking too little, which leads to dehydration.) I trucked on till Friday and had a great weekend.

Some things I learned the first week:

The best microwave that cooks the fastest

The best water fountain 

The best time to make copies (4pm after school)

My room feels wonderful with the air on

I can walk 4 miles during the day (does that count as real exercise?)

Students will respect you if you respect them too

Sometimes plans can change and you need to look like you know what you're doing when you don't

I can't access the school shared directory from home

Students don't like detentions for being late

Week two is upon me and I planned as much as I could at home without having access to the school shared directory. Hopefully my spanish students will enjoy my presentations and activities I have planned for them. 

My personal goals for the week:

Figure out how to make dinner while being dead tired at 5

Run at least 2 times after school

Understand that I need time to myself

Look into joining a local gym

Here. We. Go.

Tomorrow, September 9th, is the first day of school.

The classroom is clean, the bulletin boards await creative student work,  and new binders await my students. Are they as nervous as I am? Will I make a great first impression? Will I remember everything on my lesson plans without saying, uhhhhh...uhhhhh... too much?

I hope so.

Being that I am a runner, I say some last words of encouragement before I start a long, hard race, and they are: Here we go.

Teaching is very similar to running a race: you have to plan out your training runs well in advance (unit plans), you have to plan for emergencies (school sicknesses), you have to be in top physical shape (know the material), and you have to be able to run the entire race without stopping to use the bathroom  (this is the same for teaching!). After the race, you need to reflect on what worked, what didn't, and how I can improve for the next time I start another race.

As it's now an appropriate "teacher bedtime," I say these last words to kick off the race of the year: Here. We. Go.

I need more hours in the day

As much as I have to do, I tried to schedule some down time to spend with my girls before their summer was over. I severely underestimated how much time I would need to check 40 IEPs and write my first lessons for the week. The IEP program didn't recognize me as a user and when I did gain access, the program wasn't Mac friendly. I went into a completely epic melt down and had to have my husband look at the computer problem for me. As the melt down subsided, I felt awful as I dropped them off to an End of the Year party at the swim club while I went back home to work more. 12 hours later, microwaved pizza, and no more white printing paper, I called it a day. It was now time to help my youngest daughter get ready for her first day of school too. Being that I am so stressed out from wanting everything perfect and in place, I realized this would be the first year that I couldn't see my daughter onto the school bus. Cue melt down #2. Later, my daughter assured me that my husband will take her annual picture in front of the door before the bus comes. whew!!!

I understand that I have a lot on my plate right now because I don't have routines and priorities in place (getting Spanish taco stickers seemed to be high on the priority list this weekend). I also understand that it will get better and everyone, including seasoned teachers are probably having a busy weekend. Thankfully, I had a friend take some time out to answer some of my questions, and my mentor called me back after I phoned her at 7:56a on a Sunday morning. I do have a great support system!!

Overall, I need to find a way to balance school work, kids and my own well being. They need me as much as my students will. Plus, I realized on Sunday night that I survived on Diet Coke all weekend! Must. not. do. that. again.

I'm off to tuck in the kiddos into bed, and maybe fill a water bottle for school.

It's the end of August and soon my children will go back to school. This year I will be heading into school too as a Special Education Teacher. After graduating Rutgers University in May 2013, I had an interview lined up for Triton High School the very next day. The interview went well, and I was called in for a second interview. That went so well that I left with a teaching position! As the summer went on, my schedule came in the mail and I discovered that I would be teaching 11th grade English and intro to Spanish. This schedule seemed to solidify the fact that I would indeed be a teacher come September. I emailed my supervisor to find out when I could set up my classroom. After all, my wonderful co-op teacher when I was student teaching gave me a wealth of supplies plus a huge start to a classroom library. My supervisor informed me that I would be the in-class support teacher for English.  Would this mean no teacher library? What will I do with all of my color coordinated supplies? Where will I put the dry erase markers I purchased from the Staples sales? Am I a 1/2 teacher? I was crushed, since I've dreamed from the start of my education that I would set up my own classroom the way I would like. Not to mention, what would happen to the boxes of books I accumulated in my garage?

With every situation I am faced with, I always look for the positives (not that this is a negative in any way.) So I decided to make a list and here's what I came up with:

• I love collaborating and I'll always have other teachers to talk to.
• It's a great way to start off my teaching career because I can learn from other teachers that have taught for a while. 
• I can really focus on the students that need help reading and writing; what I love to do!
• I can probably take a bathroom break since I drink lots of water and tea. 
• I'm not a 1/2 teacher; I will have the same responsibilities as everyone else.

School starts in about 3 weeks and I'm still very nervous and excited to teach. I have shifted focus from organizing books to learning how to use the SMARTboard to make resources for my Spanish classroom. As the summer wanes, I will take this time to relax and finish reading a few novels before the crazy schedule sets in. As a side note, why haven't my own children asked me about school shopping yet? Mom wants to get some new clothes too.