Sooo so far i'm getting more and more nervous, we have been told officially, we have the hardest class in the h-s... they're tough, so energetic and talkative, and attitude and assertive. YET once again I was able to keep them under control, on task, doing work, and only had to send two children to the "reflection desk"
i don't know if it's b/c I have better classroom management, higher expectations, or b/c the students aren't exhausted cause it's the first period of the day, but i'm having a much easier time then all my fellow teachers. The teachers who have the SAME students i have said they are completely out of control and don't know how to handle them! It's making me nervous, but things are ok for now so we'll see!
i had one kid tell me he hated history, and then he said, "no affense", which i totally understand.. i hated history in hs, maybe i can change his opinion! the other girl who misbehaved explicitly told my faculty advisor that she doesn't a. like female teachers or b. being told what to do... that leaves me in a sticky situation!!
but right now my plans are going well, and i hope that continues! it's hard enough for me to create them since i don't have the history background, but i have to say i'm researching just like as if i was in college... if not more! But it's rewarding to ask the kids a question that you think they'd never be able to answer... and then they do, and blow you away! and most even have high goals. One of my students said he wants to get an A+! i know if he works hard he can!
these kids are smart! they just have to try hard and do the work!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Day 1 of teaching-SUCCESS!
Sooo.. today was the first day i taught! And it was surprisingly good! and went unusually well!!
First i'll tell you about my class, it is a group of 11 summer schools students, the majority are rising sophomores but we have a few rising juniors. None of the kids want to be there and they're all there b/c they have failed World History and have to retake it.
So I am teaching them world history.. which is interesting b/c history has never been my subject but i've been studying and learning a lot! i write lots of lessons every night, and every one takes me an INORDINATE amount of time, but i'm sure once i get used to writing them they will get easier!
So today I had to introduce my class to the new idea about how we're going to teach them history. THeir old teacher thought that making them read everyday for 5 hrs was teaching.. we're changing things up. Every lesson i have i ask lots of questoins of them and interactive group work to keep them excited, we don't read the book at all!
so far the kids have done well.. they're a very rambonxious and talkative group so i have to make sure that my classroom managment is strong, but if you respect them and are stern and show you mean business it works better! i'm amazed how comfortable i felt standing in front of them and leading them and hope it continues this way!
tomorrow i'm going to teach a "real lesson", past the usual day introduction, here's what we're going to do, class rules, etc. so we'll see how that goes! i know it's going to be a challenge b/c today after giving our kids the pre-assesment (for stuff we'll teach them) the highest grade was a 26%! So our goal is for all our students to have an average of 80% of higher passing as a class. i think we can do it but it'll be a very hard-working 4 weeks!!!
off to bed now b/c i'm exhausted from long day of traveling yesterday and getting in late. but it was WONDERFUL being home and seeing all my girls and watching andrea get married!!!
looking forward to another day of teaching! i get observed tomorrow so hopefully it goes smoothly!
First i'll tell you about my class, it is a group of 11 summer schools students, the majority are rising sophomores but we have a few rising juniors. None of the kids want to be there and they're all there b/c they have failed World History and have to retake it.
So I am teaching them world history.. which is interesting b/c history has never been my subject but i've been studying and learning a lot! i write lots of lessons every night, and every one takes me an INORDINATE amount of time, but i'm sure once i get used to writing them they will get easier!
So today I had to introduce my class to the new idea about how we're going to teach them history. THeir old teacher thought that making them read everyday for 5 hrs was teaching.. we're changing things up. Every lesson i have i ask lots of questoins of them and interactive group work to keep them excited, we don't read the book at all!
so far the kids have done well.. they're a very rambonxious and talkative group so i have to make sure that my classroom managment is strong, but if you respect them and are stern and show you mean business it works better! i'm amazed how comfortable i felt standing in front of them and leading them and hope it continues this way!
tomorrow i'm going to teach a "real lesson", past the usual day introduction, here's what we're going to do, class rules, etc. so we'll see how that goes! i know it's going to be a challenge b/c today after giving our kids the pre-assesment (for stuff we'll teach them) the highest grade was a 26%! So our goal is for all our students to have an average of 80% of higher passing as a class. i think we can do it but it'll be a very hard-working 4 weeks!!!
off to bed now b/c i'm exhausted from long day of traveling yesterday and getting in late. but it was WONDERFUL being home and seeing all my girls and watching andrea get married!!!
looking forward to another day of teaching! i get observed tomorrow so hopefully it goes smoothly!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Insitute HAS begun
WOW What a whirlwind this week has been!!!! Driving from Kansas City to Chicago. Moving in to my summer home, meeting a set of 400 more people, training sessions all day long for 4 days. Laughter, stress, exhaustion, tears, hard work, it has been quite a week! But yet at the end of the day i'm soo excited and glad to be here!
Last night was probably the most stressed any of us have been, as we all stayed up and worked on writing 2 lesson plans (doesn't sound like much but when you're a new teacher trying to make AMAZING lessons to engage your students who have never loved school... it's quite a task. BUT we all succeeded, and woke up ready to start a new day!
Today went great. We learned more about discipline, i created a plan for my students and our first day (on monday!) where i'll teach them for 50 minutes. I originally was supposed to teach math students but due to a lack of math students at summer school was switched to World History. NOt my favorite subject in school, but i want to make it interesting so these students have a better experience than i did! So i'm super excited to get my students and start teaching (scared too...)
But also today we got to meet our student's past teacher which was really frustrating for a lot of us because of his pervasive attitude towards his students and their abilities to succeed, and he just had a vision of a very tired older teacher that is easy to get when dealing with students in these school settings. However, i think i successfully re-boosted the moralle of my group of co-teachers (there are 5 of us per group, we each teach one period each day) and now we're excited again for school monday!
I was also given a "reward" type thing today, or a "shoutout" as we call it at our school, for this sense of posibility so that always makes a person feel good :) WOO HOO for m & m trophys haha. I also got to speak with the TFA director at my school and he let me know how much he appreciated my questions and participation during sessions which was nice to hear b/c sometimes i was afraid that i was that obnoxious kid in class that always spoke up, but he didn't see it like that at all!
But now off to shower, dinner and write more lesson plans! I can't believe i even had time to sit and type this!! it's been such a crazy week! but i couldn't be more excited to start teaching!
Last night was probably the most stressed any of us have been, as we all stayed up and worked on writing 2 lesson plans (doesn't sound like much but when you're a new teacher trying to make AMAZING lessons to engage your students who have never loved school... it's quite a task. BUT we all succeeded, and woke up ready to start a new day!
Today went great. We learned more about discipline, i created a plan for my students and our first day (on monday!) where i'll teach them for 50 minutes. I originally was supposed to teach math students but due to a lack of math students at summer school was switched to World History. NOt my favorite subject in school, but i want to make it interesting so these students have a better experience than i did! So i'm super excited to get my students and start teaching (scared too...)
But also today we got to meet our student's past teacher which was really frustrating for a lot of us because of his pervasive attitude towards his students and their abilities to succeed, and he just had a vision of a very tired older teacher that is easy to get when dealing with students in these school settings. However, i think i successfully re-boosted the moralle of my group of co-teachers (there are 5 of us per group, we each teach one period each day) and now we're excited again for school monday!
I was also given a "reward" type thing today, or a "shoutout" as we call it at our school, for this sense of posibility so that always makes a person feel good :) WOO HOO for m & m trophys haha. I also got to speak with the TFA director at my school and he let me know how much he appreciated my questions and participation during sessions which was nice to hear b/c sometimes i was afraid that i was that obnoxious kid in class that always spoke up, but he didn't see it like that at all!
But now off to shower, dinner and write more lesson plans! I can't believe i even had time to sit and type this!! it's been such a crazy week! but i couldn't be more excited to start teaching!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
I'm finally here!!
O My GOODNESS. I couldn't be more excited/anxious/overwhelmed or pumped that I'm finally in Kansas City at Institute, training, meeting my 75 corps members and getting to know the AWESOME city of Kansas City, MO!
Today, first full day of training, was a WHIRLWIND of activities. We started the day with workshops on what Teach for America's goals are for us, and as an organization and discussed how we can stay involved with it even after our two year commitment in many various areas and fields throughout the country. In addition, we learned a lot about KC TFA in particular, which is only in it's second year as a TFA charter location. Apparently, the bar was set EXTREMELY high last year, which is extremely fortunate for us because we have very strong backing and support from the KCMO public school system! They are excited to have us and are working hard to make sure we all get placed!
In addition, we learned a lot about the partnership that TFA is having with Rockhurst University, which is where we will receive our liscensure and master's degree througout the next two years (by taking class 2 days a week, 3-4 hours.. FUN!) This is the first year TFA has worked with them BUT they could not be more excited to be working with us! This is extremely fortunate and exciting b/c oftentimes educational programs do not like TFA b/c they feel that we are taking jobs that teachers with certificates and degrees in education would have had (that's a story for another day) We're actually staying at Rockhurst this week too, in dorms, and it's really neat. The area that Rockhurst is in is actually the worst in town, but it's neat to be here b/c this will be where most of the school's we are placed in will be.
In addition, Rockhurst is only 5 minutes from the PLaza/Wesport area of KC which is awesome! We drove through the PLaza today, which is set up to be like the Plaza in Sevilla Spain, and I fell in love immediatly! I'm going apartment hunting thursday and hope to find a place there with one or two girls that I have met and am getting to know really well already! In addition tonight we got to see WEstport which is a more historic distric and got to walk around a bit. We ALSO got to see another district called the Power and LIght District. This is downtown and it's a relatively newer area of town and really cool! There is lights everywhere, bars, restaurants, a bar/bowling alley we went to tonight (super fun, but weird!) and just neat things to do! I'm loving the big city life so far :) Everyone thinks i'm just some silly little country girl from some small town by the way i talk! it's funny the things that are different here!
Tomorrow will prove to be either a very exciting or a very dissapointing day. 50 of us are going to the Kansas City Missouri School District and meeting with people to either sign a contract or to put our names down for when jobs finally open up (because there are NOT as many as we had hoped there would be, YET). I have been told that b/c of my placement in Bilingual the chances are very good that I will be one of the 30 who will sign tomorrow.... i sure hope so! Otherwise i might not find out what/where i'll be teaching until as late as August!
But i must go to bed so that i can wake up and look professional and do the work thing... soo weird!!!!
I miss you all!!!
Today, first full day of training, was a WHIRLWIND of activities. We started the day with workshops on what Teach for America's goals are for us, and as an organization and discussed how we can stay involved with it even after our two year commitment in many various areas and fields throughout the country. In addition, we learned a lot about KC TFA in particular, which is only in it's second year as a TFA charter location. Apparently, the bar was set EXTREMELY high last year, which is extremely fortunate for us because we have very strong backing and support from the KCMO public school system! They are excited to have us and are working hard to make sure we all get placed!
In addition, we learned a lot about the partnership that TFA is having with Rockhurst University, which is where we will receive our liscensure and master's degree througout the next two years (by taking class 2 days a week, 3-4 hours.. FUN!) This is the first year TFA has worked with them BUT they could not be more excited to be working with us! This is extremely fortunate and exciting b/c oftentimes educational programs do not like TFA b/c they feel that we are taking jobs that teachers with certificates and degrees in education would have had (that's a story for another day) We're actually staying at Rockhurst this week too, in dorms, and it's really neat. The area that Rockhurst is in is actually the worst in town, but it's neat to be here b/c this will be where most of the school's we are placed in will be.
In addition, Rockhurst is only 5 minutes from the PLaza/Wesport area of KC which is awesome! We drove through the PLaza today, which is set up to be like the Plaza in Sevilla Spain, and I fell in love immediatly! I'm going apartment hunting thursday and hope to find a place there with one or two girls that I have met and am getting to know really well already! In addition tonight we got to see WEstport which is a more historic distric and got to walk around a bit. We ALSO got to see another district called the Power and LIght District. This is downtown and it's a relatively newer area of town and really cool! There is lights everywhere, bars, restaurants, a bar/bowling alley we went to tonight (super fun, but weird!) and just neat things to do! I'm loving the big city life so far :) Everyone thinks i'm just some silly little country girl from some small town by the way i talk! it's funny the things that are different here!
Tomorrow will prove to be either a very exciting or a very dissapointing day. 50 of us are going to the Kansas City Missouri School District and meeting with people to either sign a contract or to put our names down for when jobs finally open up (because there are NOT as many as we had hoped there would be, YET). I have been told that b/c of my placement in Bilingual the chances are very good that I will be one of the 30 who will sign tomorrow.... i sure hope so! Otherwise i might not find out what/where i'll be teaching until as late as August!
But i must go to bed so that i can wake up and look professional and do the work thing... soo weird!!!!
I miss you all!!!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
10 days....
In a total of 10 days I am going to be traveling to a far far land... Kansas City, MO. Ok it's not that far.. but it seems pretty far for me who's been here in Winston-Salem, NC for 17 years. Not that I'm not excited to go, I'm very excited! Moving to a new city, in a new state, with new people, having a real career! But wow, I feel way too young to be here already!
However, I decided that since I have nothing better to do, and that some people might care to know what my experiences will be like in my future years in MO (I at least know my mom will read :) ) that I'm creating this blog. While I can't gurantee that I will update everyday (though I do love e-mail and the like) , I will do my best to keep you guys posted on my life.
For now, all I know is that I'm heading to KC, MO in 10 days. I'll be there for 1 week, get to know the city, meet all my fellow KC TFA corps members, and try and find a place to live. From there I will head to Chicago for the next 6 weeks. Here I will be "training" which means I'll be teaching my own summer school class in an inner city school with 3 or so other corps members.
Hopefully I'll be teaching the same age/grade that I'll have in KC, but I still don't have my placement yet, I just know I'll be "Bilingual" placement! I'm dying to know what my class will be like but i still don't know!
So until i head to MO i'm just reading up on all teaching material i can to somehow get myself somewhat ready for this crazy/challenging/inspiring adventure that I'm about to partake in. Needless to say, i can't wait! I hope I can help close the achievement gap that is plagueing this country, but regardless I know I will work my hardest to make that happen.
Meanwhile, you get to read and watch me become a teacher... weird, and hear about all my journeys along the way!
However, I decided that since I have nothing better to do, and that some people might care to know what my experiences will be like in my future years in MO (I at least know my mom will read :) ) that I'm creating this blog. While I can't gurantee that I will update everyday (though I do love e-mail and the like) , I will do my best to keep you guys posted on my life.
For now, all I know is that I'm heading to KC, MO in 10 days. I'll be there for 1 week, get to know the city, meet all my fellow KC TFA corps members, and try and find a place to live. From there I will head to Chicago for the next 6 weeks. Here I will be "training" which means I'll be teaching my own summer school class in an inner city school with 3 or so other corps members.
Hopefully I'll be teaching the same age/grade that I'll have in KC, but I still don't have my placement yet, I just know I'll be "Bilingual" placement! I'm dying to know what my class will be like but i still don't know!
So until i head to MO i'm just reading up on all teaching material i can to somehow get myself somewhat ready for this crazy/challenging/inspiring adventure that I'm about to partake in. Needless to say, i can't wait! I hope I can help close the achievement gap that is plagueing this country, but regardless I know I will work my hardest to make that happen.
Meanwhile, you get to read and watch me become a teacher... weird, and hear about all my journeys along the way!
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