Throwing around desks
Friday August 4. 2006
After receiving my class list yesterday, I spent the afternoon loving my students' names...How many name combonations exist ending in '-neshia?' In my class, at least 5. I loved having a list of names to match to these 22 empty desks I've been moving around for the past week.
I've known that my kids would be behind, that they would be below grade level, and that this experience would be challenging. And today that all became very real very quickly. Yesterday I was dealt with a staggering statistic of 64%, and today I was handed a list of names. When other teachers at school glanced through my list I was given a lot of sympathetic looks, even the occasional sarcastic 'good luck.' Sounds like I've been dealt a tough hand. My TFA Program Director, and a former TFA teacher at my school, gave me the real skinny...it seems my principal likes to 'toughen up' the new teachers by giving them the toughest kids. So now I've got 5 students whose names all end in '-neshia' (and yes, that means their names all rhyme), all 4 of the 4th grade special education students, at least 4 students with behavior problems (including one that tends to throw desks when he's angry), and I'm sure tomorrow they'll add to my list a partridge in a pear tree.
It's time to put on my game face...I didn't spend six weeks in Houston getting trained for nothing. It might be a wild ride, but I'm starting to like the fact that my kids have some fire in 'em...
After receiving my class list yesterday, I spent the afternoon loving my students' names...How many name combonations exist ending in '-neshia?' In my class, at least 5. I loved having a list of names to match to these 22 empty desks I've been moving around for the past week.
I've known that my kids would be behind, that they would be below grade level, and that this experience would be challenging. And today that all became very real very quickly. Yesterday I was dealt with a staggering statistic of 64%, and today I was handed a list of names. When other teachers at school glanced through my list I was given a lot of sympathetic looks, even the occasional sarcastic 'good luck.' Sounds like I've been dealt a tough hand. My TFA Program Director, and a former TFA teacher at my school, gave me the real skinny...it seems my principal likes to 'toughen up' the new teachers by giving them the toughest kids. So now I've got 5 students whose names all end in '-neshia' (and yes, that means their names all rhyme), all 4 of the 4th grade special education students, at least 4 students with behavior problems (including one that tends to throw desks when he's angry), and I'm sure tomorrow they'll add to my list a partridge in a pear tree.
It's time to put on my game face...I didn't spend six weeks in Houston getting trained for nothing. It might be a wild ride, but I'm starting to like the fact that my kids have some fire in 'em...
posted by Ms. Ballard at 11:40 PM
1 Comments:
Hey,
It sounds like you are having a blast. *wink*wink* I bet the kids have fallen in love with you by now because you are so much fun. I just had some advise from a friend of mine who is in the TFA program too.
Her class was 5th and 6th graders who like to have 'battles' like in the movie 8 Mile while she was teaching. One kid called her names so bad, she actually cried in front of the class. It was a rough start. She started telling those logic, mystery storiy things at the beginning of each class. You know like, "Peggy and Jim were found dead on a floor surrounded by water and broken glass, what happened?" And the kids can only ask yes and no questions to figure them out. The answer is that Peggy and Jim were fish that got knocked out of their bowl. The class got so into it, and once they solved the riddle (or whatever you want to call it) they were focused enough to listen to her teach.
Another guy I know would read part of a mystery story everyday to help improve listening skills. Granted these were little YUPPIE kids, and during the era of Goosebumps, but he said it helped his 4th graders.
I miss your laigh and I really hope the year gets better as you get closer to the holidays.
-Kel
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