Easier Said Than Done

It's been two weeks since I've blogged about school. I have a long list of excuses, but no need to go through those! Let's get back on track!

Let me preface this post by saying this is not a "Woe is me. Tell Erin how awesome she is" kind of post. I want to record my first year of teaching, both the successes and lessons learned...even if they are learned the hard way.

I have learned in the past couple of weeks what they (experienced educators) mean by, "Don't smile before Christmas" "Crack down early because once you loose them, it's harder to get them back." Many first year teachers say that they struggle with classroom management. Entering this year, I was a little nervous about it, but at the same time, over-confident in my classroom management skills. I made a 7th grader cry in one of my internships; I had years of experience at summer camp; clearly, I knew what I was doing. Ha!

I have to say that teaching is one of the most humbling experiences I have ever had. I am used to being really good at everything I do. I expected to prance into my first year of teaching and blow it out of the water. Boy did I have another thing coming. There are many days I leave school feeling like the worst teacher ever either because the kids were out of control or because I wasn't able to get them to understand what I was teaching. I'm not going to lie, it's hard. 

These 7th graders are quick. And, I have not done a good job of enforcing my expectations. As a result, my classes get very talkative. With so much going on, it's easier for me (at the present moment) to keep saying, "Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking" However, when I don't follow through on consequences or threats, my threats and consequences quickly loose meaning and take with them my authority. And, they're right, it is much harder to enforce expectations later rather than sooner. So, I'm struggling with that right now. But, I refuse to give up on them already.

Last week, I gave students the opportunity to choose their own groups. I realized that I need to do this in the first few days of school. It gave me great insight to who was friends with who. When I made my original seating chart, it was alphabetical. When I made my second seating chart, I knew who to separate, but didn't realize the other social groups I was putting together. So, allowing them to show me who they are friends with from the beginning will help me out a lot next year!

It really freaks students out when you give them an answer to a question on a test. I realized when I got ready to give my first test, there was a question on a topic I had skipped because it is not in the 7th grade curriculum anymore. So, instead of making all new copies, I just gave them the answer to that question. I should have just allowed them to answer it because giving them the answer blew their minds. It was also amazing how many of them missed it after saying 890,875,908 times, "I have already circled the answer to number 21; all you need to do is bubble it in."

I've quickly learned that I can not assume that they know anything about the concepts I teach. I'm not saying they're stupid because they aren't. I'm just saying that assuming they already know something only hurts them. I came in with very high expectations of their prior knowledge about math and how to act. That was a mistake. I'm not saying that they can't rise to my expectations. What I'm saying, is they can't unless I teach them. Just because I understand the math quickly and feel like I am repeating myself 1,000,000 times a day, it still isn't enough. It is taking lots of patience on my part.

I'm learning. I might have some of these issues figured out by Christmas and the rest by the end of the year. It has definitely been a challenge and so very humbling.

Quotes from the past few weeks:
At the end of the day, I was letting the students pack up and chat a little before the announcements came on. You know those moments where you're talking at the same volume level as the rest of the crowd, but at the second you speak everyone else seems to stop speaking and everyone hears what you say? Well, that was what happened when I heard one of my 7th grade boys excitedly proclaim, "I have leg hair!" Everyone kind of smirked and then looked at me to see my reaction. All I could do was laugh. I started to tell them I did too, but thought that would freak them out too much.

With a hop in his step and a lift of his fake top hat, I was greeted by one of my boys one morning with an excited, "Top of the morning to ya, mate!"

You would think after 2 weeks I would have a long list of quotes of the week. I told Allyson this past weekend that I might be getting too used to the randomness of 7th grade students. I'll try harder this week to listen for and remember their crazy comments.

We had a teacher work day today and it was AMAZING to have the whole day to myself to get things done! I am so thankful for that time!

Engagement post coming soon!