TheRoller-Coaster Ride of Teaching

During the past few weeks, I have been on the roller-coaster of teaching.  I have experienced the highs and the lows.  Luckily, the lows have been few and far between.  

The biggest reason for this is when I am thinking about where I stand in both of my preps. Sometimes, I feel overwhelmed by all that is going on and coming up.  And other times, I feel comfortable with what I am doing and how prepared I am.  So I guess it boils down to how prepared I feel.  Sometimes, no matter how much I prepared, I still don't fell like I'm ready to go. Other times, I feel that I will be fine with what I have.  

I am also beginning to realize that I might be more in the middle of those two feelings that I think I am.  So, in other words, I am probably more prepared when I think I am not, and less prepared when I feel that I am ready.  So now, it is a matter of trying to better identify my level of preparedness and work off of it.  

Student Issues

One of the things that caught me a little off guard was how many student issues I'd face so early on. A few weeks ago, I got my first taste of dealing with parents. I had to make a phone call to a father of a student who has been tardy for a number of classes. I was pretty nervous before and during the phone call. Of course, the nervousness came through and I didn't like how it came out. Luckily, I only left a message at work and I did discuss what I needed to; I just didn't sound as smooth as I would have liked to.

I also got to send an email home to a parent who was wondering why her daughter's grade was slipping. My cooperating teacher just told me to write it, but I had her check it afterwords. She took out all of my niceties and made the email so it was a lot more direct. Both the email and the phone call were tremendous learning opportunities for me. I now feel more confident about dealing with parents in the future as a result of these experiences.

I am just starting to get a grasp of ALL of the other things that are involved in the role of teacher, besides just teaching. And dealing with parents is just the tip of the iceberg.

Settling In

I had breakfast this morning with the head cross-country coach, and a former assistant whom I ran against (and knew) in high school. Our meet this morning was cancelled due to the constant rain we have experienced the past 24 hours.  But we still met for breakfast.  Anyways, the former assistant is a first year teacher and we were talking shop.  I mentioned a few lessons in the classroom that I was learning the hard way.  And he said, "You learn really quickly what works and what doesn't work."  It is a somewhat obvious statement, but it rang really true for me.  Sometimes in the business world, it would take a while before it became noticeable for what wasn't working.  One of the issues I have is the bathroom pass.  This is something that I didn't really spend as much time thinking about as I should have.  Both of my cooperating teachers have a pretty strict stance on giving out the pass.  At first, I was a lot more sympathetic towards the students who "needed" to use it.  I also think that attitude had a lot to do with my concern for how much the kids liked me (which I'll address in my next post).  So now that I have completely taken over the classes for a few weeks now, I have started shifting the procedures to be a little more in line with my views.  So the bathroom pass has been issued a lot more than the first few days.  However, I have also noticed that most, if not all, students who ask to use the pass are abusing their right and are taking advantage of me.  I now see why my cooperating teachers have the (what I formerly believed to be) strict view on bathroom passes.  During my last class on Friday, a student came up to me and asked if he could use the bathroom.  I told him that he has gone pretty much every day this week.  I continued on about how I can't go if I need to in the middle of class and how he needs to work it out better.  I am going to continue rejecting students going forward and letting them know that they have lost the privelidge of using the bathroom, at least until things improve on that front.  We'll see how it turns out.  

Two weeks in

I can't believe that two weeks are already done with.  They have flown by.  And speaking of that, I was just thinking about how my days seems to fly by now that I'm teaching.  As soon as I walk in the door to the Business Department, I am going until I get in the car to head home.  Including practice, I am regularly putting in 11 hour days, but it doesn't even feel like it.  I remember back when I was working at the bank and when I had to work a 10 hour day, it felt like it took forever.  I'm guessing it has a lot to do with the fact that I am now enjoying what I do.  

I am starting to settle in and get into the rhythm of the school day, which is reassuring.  I am also a lot better than expected with remembering my students' names.  I was really worried about it and everyone I spoke to just said "you'll get it".  I was getting increasingly frustrated with what appeared to be their lack of help, but I am know realizing the wisdom of their words.  There is no rhyme or reason to it and everyone has their own way of memorizing student names.  These are a few reasons that provide confidence on my path to becoming a teacher.  

One issue I am struggling with right now is remembering to take attendance.  My computer class is no problem because I can do it right from the computer I am standing at.  But in my Intro class, which is in a regular classroom, I always forget, until the bell rings, and everyone is walking out.  There are a few different methods that I am going to try out this week in hopes of discovering something soon that works.  

I'll go out this week on a high note: As I was leaving for practice Friday, I was walking out with one of my cooperating teachers.  As we were about to go our separate ways, she stopped and told me that she thinks that I'm doing a good job.  That was so great to hear, especially coming from her.