You don't need to read this. I read somewhere that psychologists are recommending their patients to keep blogs b/c they are therapeutic. Want better therapy? Good Christian fellowship and counsel. Fo' sho'. This is part of an email I sent to some of my classmates from the UCI credential program: Despite a rookie mistake this week, I had a pretty good week. It wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be, but it has made me really reflective about my teaching. This makes student teaching feel like a trip to Disneyland. Hahahaha. A few things I learned ----Don't tell the students you are a first year teacher. They can't tell, so you don't need to tell them. Well, it's not that big of a deal if you do, but maybe not on the first day. ----If your email, gradebook, etc. is not set up before the first day, ask for it. I didn't, and mine was just set up yesterday. >___< -----Try to post up your rules and refer to them frequently, especially with freshmen and jr. highers. My friend who teaches 8th grade has her eleven "commandments" posted on the wall. Otherwise, students will claim that you never told them the rules though you did. -----At my school at least, it's okay to spend the first week or perhaps first 2 weeks going over procedures with students b/c it will pay off tenfold in the future, especially for science b/c we have labs to do. --------Find a management style that works for YOU. Issue discipline that works for you. I tried using a discipline policy similar to that of my UA, and it is not working for me. Consistency in classroom procedures will obviously lead to less discipline issues, but there still will be some. I know a teacher who has issued zero detentions in 22 years of teaching. -----It's okay to change things. Things can change in a month, a week, or tomorrow. Do not apologize to the students for changing things in class like I did/do. Haha. ---If you did not witness a student do something, then be cautious about issuing discipline. You might want to talk to them first to double-check. ---Don't be afraid to ask teachers around you for help. Ask. It makes them feel wise and important too. ^____^ -----Ninth graders, like junior highers, need to be explicitly told what to do, reminded, and trained (almost like puppies). A "syllabus" means nothing to them. "What's the syllabus? Oh, I threw that away." ---Overplan in your lesson plans: My "rowdy" (sixth) period tends to get through material the quickest, oddly enough. ----Games, videos, etc. are activities the students need to earn. ----You can keep a cheerful demeanor with the class, and then morph into the "teacher voice" with the trouble makers, mainly on a personal level with them, maybe sometimes in front of the class. Haha. But again, it's all up to you. The biggest thing for me was/is creating a classroom environment that is my own and using procedures and rules that are my own, not someone else's as well as lesson planning. I have been beating myself up over this past week, but in reality, I am not doing anything wrong. I have to go over procedures, lab safety, school code of conduct, etc. this week out of necessity. If the students are not trained now, I am in big trouble when labs come. Haha. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My family has been really nice to me this week. My mom hasn't told me to wash dishes or do laundry or anything like that. Ever since we moved here, actually, my mom has done 90% of the laundry and 100% of all the folding. I woke up this morning to see a basket of folded clothes in my room. Megan has been really good about the being left at home by herself while I was at work. She started school on Thursday. Yesterday (Friday), I was really late picking up Megan b/c of work and traffic. She wasn't happy, but she didn't get mad either. She'd had a hard day too. Poor Megan. My poor mom too. Sometimes I have been grumpy, and we probably would have come to blows if we both weren't so dang tired. Hahahaha. My mom once got upset b/c of the perfume I was wearing b/c she is allergic. I wasn't wearing any. I had just taken a shower and my mom was reacting to the scent of my shampoo. Hahahahaha. That was very funny....but not that funny at 6:45 in the morning. Today I am waiting for the cable company from 9am to 12pm. Then, I and Megan are driving straight to San Clemente so I can help Dr. J. (I met her through Pooja) do some urgent paperwork from 1pm to 6pm. I sincerely like Dr. J., who also loves God and is a nice woman. But, I can't help feeling a little grumpy when I think about how I could use those 7+ hours to lesson plan or write my paper. I know I am getting paid about $8 or $9 per hour, and money is nice, but just mentally, it's hard for me to get there. Once I am there, I'm fine, but it's just getting there. Hahahha. Oh oh oh! My teacher at UCI gave me a one week extension on my paper this week!!! It was supposed to be due Monday night, but now it's due on Tuesday morning (this upcoming Tuesday). I have labor day weekend to work on it....Well, not really. I am working with Dr. J. all day today, I have church tomorrow, then there is the church kayaking trip on Monday. I was going to skip kayaking, but I am bringing sandwiches to auntie Ruth and Bev, Kev, and some of their friends are coming ,so I should be there. Hahahahahah. It's all good. I can just bring it with me, I guess. Tuesday is going to be interesting, but it will be good experience too. What's the worse that can happen? I get fired? Well, if that were to happen, the situation would be documented as a wrongful dismissal, which would be seen by any other school I interview with. I am still a good educator. I know that. I care about those kids. Dang it. If my adminstration does not back me up, then maybe it's time to spruce up that resume. =P This was long. I hope no one read all this. This was more for me to just share and release. I recently started receiving xanga subscriptions again, but I haven't read them. I'm going to try to start again. Lately, I've been falling asleep easily out of sheer mental and physical exhaustion. Otherwise, I don't think I could fall asleep at night. =/ Again, the first week was good, but there is just so much that needs to be done. | 
