Class from...
Well, my first class ever.. is.. CRAZY! At first, I thought it was all because I had extremely poor classroom management skills.. but... according to the teachers who have taught some of my students in previous years.. I have a class from... well, you can figure that out.First off, I have to say, I don't feel entirely comfortable posting too much about my students as you never know who will stumble across your blog. SO, I'll keep things vague from here on in.
My class.. I have 21 students and they range from all sorts of abilities to attitudes. I have some extremely sweet and wonderful students and I have quite a number of "handfuls" that are very "energetic". We've been working extremely hard on just trying to get the "raise your hands if you have a question" routine .. and it's still a work in process.
One teacher took pity on me after she saw the makeup of my class.. she actually sent two university volunteers my way! Gah. I really need a TA in my class.. and also, a bigger classroom.
The pictures of my classroom that I posted a month ago no longer look at all like my classroom does today. Lots more is up on the walls and it is definitely NOT as clean. I am still in the phase where I try to tidy things up before I leave at the end of the day .. I wonder how long that will last?
Life is really busy as a first year teacher. I am at school most days before 7:30 and stay until around 6-6:30pm. We have at least one meeting per week .. this week we are at 2 meetings + 2 training sessions. *joy* Meetings suck up so much time that could be spent grading, cleaning up, prepping.. making phone calls, etc.
We get about 30 minutes of prep time per day. That's pretty much enough time to go to the office and MAYBE photocopy a couple of handouts. It's pretty much a nibble of the amount of stuff that needs to get done in one day. *sigh*.
Last week, we had open house which is "Meet the Teacher Night". A few weeks ago I was freaking out about it, but I managed to stay surprisingly calm up to the last minute on the actual day (that was an EXTREMELY long day - around 13 hour+). I didn't have many families come, and the ones that did, it was basically a meet the teacher, see the classroom and chat type of event. So far, parent communication isn't as bad as I anticipated - but I'm still trembling with fear for the day I have to make a really "bad news" phone call....
One such potential cases is a child with ADHD whom we suspect may have something more than just that.. he's to be observed for Autism .. can you imagine what the parent's reaction would be!? On the other hand, if we can properly pinpoint what he needs help in, he will be so much better off..
Anyways, I really need to sleep.. I'm exhausted. Just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive :P
Ciao.
JY
ps./ It's a full moon on Wednesday.. I wish this week would be quickly over. For those that don't know, full moons cause a lot of craziness in children. My class was having a particularly rough day yesterday and this afternoon.... What will it be like tomorrow!?
posted by jaryee @ 5:16 p.m.
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