I was reading a fellow Drake blogger's post just a few minutes ago. I believe he is currently doing Teach America or something similar to that. I know that I am very fortunate to have a job at Waukee, which is worlds away from my student teaching experience in Des Moines, where I have students who care and parents who care about what their students are learning. I am even more fortunate that my kids come to school everyday with the supplies they need, and are for the most part compliant with directions and things asked of them. So far, the worst thing I've had to deal with is the fact that students consistently "forget" things in their lockers or choose not to listen to instructions in class, and therefore ask me repeatedly what they are supposed to do. I have all the resources I need, and if I don't have something I think I need, I can talk to the office and they will get it for me. What a wonderful way for a teacher to start out!
School has been great! I'm slowly getting into a routine, and figuring out where I need to be during my planning times so I can actually get things done since other teachers and classes are in my room at all hours of the day. I "graded" my first batch of papers today. They aren't even for a real grade, they are "baseline" writing samples so we can see where the students start and where they are at the end of the year. I must say, for the most part I'm pretty happy with them. Perhaps it is because I'm grading based on the 6+1 traits of writing, and those are pretty broad categories. But, that's good because it helps me grade based on what that student can do, differentiation, rather than what I think the paper should look like, and I'm not focusing so much on spelling and grammar, which is what I tend to do a lot.
I do have some very needy students in some of my classes, so I'm going to have to figure out how to scaffold and build their knowledge from the ground up, so that all can succeed. It will be a bit challenging, but I believe that it will all work out, and I have some awesome teachers around me to support me in figuring out what to teach and how to teach it.
Staff meeting tomorrow and school pictures on Thursday. I'm not going to lie, I'm excited about the "long" weekend.
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Erin!! How have you been? I've been meaning to call you and email you but I lost the info you sent me with all your new stuff. Seems like teaching is going great for you, that so exciting to hear!I'm really excited for you. Excitement is in the air! We should hang out, catch up, have fun when you have time. I'm sure you're really busy! Take care dear!
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