Second Year Teaching > First Year Teaching (the understatement of the century)

Last year, when school ended Thursday afternoon of the first week, I was crying at my desk because I was beginning to realize that, while I had felt prepared finishing student teaching and graduating with honors from college, in reality I had no idea what I was doing.  I vividly remember the first two days of school going smoothly, then Thursday reality setting in.  The kids were chatty, they weren't following my directions, and I was ALREADY bogged down by planning, etc.  So much for a honeymoon period!!!

This year, the very same day, I am feeling exactly the opposite.  I am astonished at how quickly we have settled into a routine.  (It helps when you actually know what kind of routine you want the students in!!!)  I think the reality of the success hit me when, after school, I picked up 1 little piece of trash and 1 pencil from the classroom floor.  Last year, the floor would be covered with garbage every day, no matter how many times I told them to clean up.  This year, I have students signing in and out to use the bathroom, and doing it correctly 90% of the time.  Last year, I still couldn't get them to sign out correctly in May.  The difference?  It is a million times easier to teach a routine correctly the first time and continue to reteach that same routine than it is to teach a routine, then change it, then change it again, and hope the students can keep up.  Yes, this year is better.

Another celebration of the day: yesterday when I launched Daily 3: Read to Self I was a bit nervous when the students only built up 1 min 30 seconds of read to self "stamina."  I left feeling like we had a looong way to go!!!  Today, they made it up to 15 minutes!!!  I felt like doing a happy dance!  It was like they all decided that this was a goal they wanted to achieve, and worked for it together.  Amazing.  I was sooo proud.

Some not so thrilling parts of the day:

• Crazy mom continuing to criticize, this time about things I haven't even DONE yet, but that she seems to be anticipating I will do...for example, her writing me a note saying her gifted child needs to be challenged and that this is MY job to do, not HER job to do at home. (did i say it was???  I love gifted children and am HAPPY to challenge them!!! I've worked with gifted kids in summer for 3 years!)
• One of my tough guy students writing in his get to know you letter to me that I should know, "If u be mean to me I be mean to u."  Alright then!  (My response?  Obv, "I never be mean to students who behave--like i know you will!!")
• Discovering just how low some of my students are in reading...yikes.  I am already nervous...I have my work cut out for me!!

difficult parents

Like I said in my last post, I've been working in a gifted enrichment program this summer. needless to say, some of the parents we encounter at this program can be a little...well, interesting. Because my program works with the little kids, we always see a bunch of really young kids who maybe aren't truly gifted or are still developing academically in certain areas and it's more that their parents WANT them to be gifted, so they get them in this program. They still need test scores to back them up, but as far as I have seen, difficult parents can sometimes get their way and get their children in even if they don't exactly meet the criteria.

While giftedness is a wonderful thing and gifted children deserve to be challenged just as much as on-level children, it's always rough to encounter those parents who are already pressuring their children way too much. When did being on-level become unacceptable? It always makes me sad to think about how some children already have so much pressure placed on them before first grade, and I wonder how that will affect them in the long run.

In any case, today I had an encounter with a VERY difficult parent who not only did not believe us when we shared that her child had been behaving innappropriately and disruptively all week, but who also refused to believe her child was struggling in our class. While I strongly believe that we should have high expectations for children and believe the best to be possible in each of them, talking to parents like this one makes me wonder: how many parents are seeing only the child they wish they had and refusing to see the child in front of them?

summer with second graders

This week (and the next two) I am working in a summer enrichment program for gifted students. It's always a fun experience and refreshing to work with kids who are excited about learning, but one of the things I really love is the opportunity to work with younger kids than I normally would. I would never want to teach first graders in the regular classroom setting, but working in this mornings-only program for a week at a time with the little ones fills my appetite for cute little kid interaction. I thought I should share a few of the fun things these second graders have said so far this week:

Second Grade Boy during snack time: I would really like a version pina colada right now. Have you ever had one? I love version pina coladas.
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Second Grade Girl: Miss Teacher, how old are you?
Me: 22
SGG: Wow, you look 14!
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Me, yawning and hiccuping: Oh man, yawning AND hiccups? I really am a mess today!
Second Grade Girl: (looks me up and down) well, you're not completely a mess. You look perfect.
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(during a class discussion of the harmful effects of alcohol--don't ask me how we got on this subject)
Second Grade Girl: The moment it touches your lips, you can't tell right from wrong.
Me and Teacher look at each other and attempt to contain our hysterics

I love little kids. Most of the time :)