Day Sixty-Five...Feeling Much Better!

So, today was the last day of school before mid-winter break! I'm so happy! These last 2 weeks have been VERY stressful. It's been difficult for me to take over a class of under-achievers, not knowing where they are as far as their skill leve is concerned, and from a teacher that left me not a lot of structure. It would be very different if I came in at the beginning of the year. I could have established my classroom the way I wanted it from the beginning...instead of taking over for the former teacher. Most of the time, I get "But we never did it THAT way...we did it THIS way." ARGH! But, I think that taking this week-long break to do some creative collaborating and making my lesson plans, establishing a behavior contract and setting consequences for breaking that contract, I think things can only get better.

Wednesday, after 5th period, I cried because I was at my wits end. My kids were AWFUL! Specifically 5th period was awful. I spent my entire planning period and lunch hour (ok, so it's not a real hour...it's 30 minutes...but, I digress!) creating a Jeopardy-styled game for the kids because I knew they couldn't sit and read for a full 90 minutes. So, I took questions from the book they are going to read and made it so they had to find the answer in the book. That way, they ALL didn't have to read ALL the book and it gave them some competitive motivation. The winner got a bag of chocolate to share amongst their teammates. So, I had 3 students out of 27 who were participating. The rest of them were just talking amongst themselves, not paying attention and very much disrespecting me and my rules. So, I was so fed up with feeling like I was talking to the wall that I told them they had a choice either they could read the chapters in the book and write their 2 paragraph response to each chapter (for a total of 8 paragraphs) or they could read the chapter book and write a 6 paragraph response...by the end of the period...but that I was going to have it silent for the remainder of the period. So, I went and sat at my desk and tried not to show them how upset I was. Finally, class was over and they left (fortunately, it was the last period for the day) and I just broke down. I cried because I thought...Oh-My-Goodness...I have the rest of the year...nearly 4 more months with these kids. How am I going to survive? How am I going to get them to learn ANYTHING when they won't SHUT UP AND DO THEIR WORK? My department chair came in and I unloaded on her. She gave me the name and email of the new teacher mentor for the school and suggested I chat with her about strategies that I could use to make the rest of the year better. So, I actually met with her today after school. It was a bittersweet meeting. First, because I've taught in a full time position before, I don't get to participate formally in the mentorship program (that's the bitter part...I shot myself in the foot by working in Idaho for the year I did...nice!). Second, I was welcome to come to the meetings and 'debrief' if I would like (the sweet part...I can come and meet with the other 3 new teachers and talk about positive and negative things that are happening in the classroom).

So, overall, it was a good meeting. I got 2 strategies that I'm going to use. First, I'm going to use Warm-Up Notebooks. It's a task that all students do at the beginning of the period to gain control of the class and will direct the class time. Then, for behavior, I'm going to establish a behavior/expectation contract between me and my students. That will lay the groundwork for discipline issues. If each student signs the contract, they are then bound by their signature and word that they will abide by the agreement. If they don't, they have chosen the consequences, which also will be outlined in the contract.

So, I think it's going to get better from here...