The First Week

Well here I am. Thursday night of my first week of teaching. I have survived 4 days that would make strong men crumble.

My first day was 

awful.

I'll be honest. I thought I was going to die and I would never come back to that place and it would be over.  I have the Earth Science students and unfortunately that is where the remedial students end up. You can lie to yourself all you want but remedial students are more likely to be troublemakers. So here I am. Brand new teacher facing down 150 troublemakers a day.

But I faced them down. I had one student who ditched (or as it is called here in Utah, sluffed) my class on the first day by walking around in the halls. All the veteran teachers then proceeded to warn me about her and her brother. Another student called me fat under his breath. Yes, first day. Yes, teenagers can be awful human beings. I had a bit of chaotic day, tried to lay down the law and refused to back down. But at the end of the day my feet were tired, I needed a nap, and the thought of coming back the next day made me want to cry.

But I did come back,.

           And you know what?

                          Tuesday was better!

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I knew it wasn't perfect and that we would have a long way to go but I didn't almost cry, my feet weren't almost falling off and I felt like I could come back Wednesday and do it again.

Wednesday was not the day I had planned. Well...it was but I wasn't being smart. I tried to have my students make lab safety posters. The students I student taught would've handled it well because we had a rapport and an understanding. These new kids and I were nowhere near ready for the experiences of Wednesday. 

And when I left the classroom on Wednesday afternoon/near evening I knew we needed to make changes. I knew what those changes were. And I knew that I wouldn't be able to do everything I wanted to do with these classes right away.

So that brings us to Thursday, today. Today. 

Awwwwww yeah. Thursday. One day away from Friday. And guess what? I HAD BACKUP PLANS! In the event that the class was good we'd do a cool right brain vs left brain quiz and watch a pixar short at the end. If the class did not do well we'd do some book work.

The reason I had to create such black and white consequences was because we did a practice fire drill. Some classes did not do well. We attempted to fix behavior. Unfortunately 2nd and 5th both ended up with bookwork. They were VERY unhappy about it but quickly fell into the mandated silence. I also expected 7th period to be troublesome. They were not PERFECT in the hall but when we got into the classroom they were absolutely silence. I almost CRIED from joy.

It was amazing. Students were actually shushing the talkers and helping keep control. I felt on top of the world. Absolute top of the world. But we have tomorrow. Thankfully our school has short classes on Fridays and we have very set plans for tomorrow. We will see how 2nd, 5th and 7th act tomorrow.

I know the best way to create a respectful classroom is to treat them with respect and follow through with consequences. It is working....I just wish it worked faster. Hopefully next week will be even better.