Thursday, August 28, 2008

A Great Start!

If serving a mission prepares you for marriage teaching prepares you for parenthood. And I'm totally better at it the second time around. No wonder every parents' favorite child is the last one. It really just gets better and better. My first period is a full house, but they are so well behaved it amazes me. They took a reading test today and I think many of them will end up on the High School reading level. Second period is a little more chatty but I really like them. There are a couple of boys who are just full of themselves and I love it. There are also a couple of female students who I just love because they are so outgoing. As for their reading levels, most of them are at about the 6th grade. I can work with that.

After 2nd period I go to lunch and chat with my young TFA (teach for america) friends. I've noticed that for the most part the white teachers sit at one table and the black teachers at another. But I actually think the real divider is our age. The younguns come together for a good laugh at some inappropriate jokes while our elders talk about, well I don't know cause they are at another table. I think I'll go into the teacher's lounge one day and squish the two tables together so that we aren't racially/agelly seperated.

After lunch I have my planning period. But I have all my lessons planned up to the first 7 weeks of school. So I usually just sit around thinking about . . . stuff. I would get on a computer and update my grades but I have no classroom computer because my school is so poor. 4th period is my rowdy class. I have two of the schools most horrible students. But I of course just love them. And they in return love me and for the most part they listen to my commands. I'm willing to bet this class will have the most diverse reading levels, with some students on level and others at like 2nd or 3rd grade. Actually one of them can't read at all. But he rarely comes.

I'm so thankful for my job. I love my students. I love when last year's kids drop by to say hi, or to use me to hide from the principal. And I love the new principals. They really mean business and this year is already off to a better start than last year. I still wish the walls went all the way to the ceiling. My neighbor, Mr. Loving is a loud lecturer so my students are learning all about Environmental Science. And then Miss Smith's 4th period class launches pens and paper over the walls and of course my students want to reciprocate. Oh the joys of an open space school! I could teach anywhere after this.

4 comments:

Claudia said...

Honey, I am so happy you are having such a great year! And, if your students know you like them they will be so much more wiling to listen and learn so it sounds like you will have them all paying attention and doing well in school. Working with kids is a great profession and very rewarding. Tomorrow at lunch I challenge you to sit at a different table! Love ya , Mom

Devin and Chrissy said...

Hey you. It sounds like you got a hand full. Well things will work out I bet you are the best darn teacher out there. Well I hope to talk to you soon please let me have your dads email I would love to talk to him and your mom so I can add them to my blogger talk to you ya soon hun :)

Heidi said...

First of all - you have your first SEVEN weeks planned already?!!! Who are you? I am moi impressed! Agreed on the fact that there are so many things I didn't realize I had learned that I do now in this second year... Anyway, I am glad things are going so much better! I love your stories! Here's a funny for you from my first week. Half my class is Hispanic or another ELL and I have one little girl who speaks absolutely no English. Her mom (who also doesn't speak English) came in with another mom yesterday to talk to me. The other mom said, "Suiry's mom only wants you to speak English to her." Me: "...ok, that will be easy." Other mom: "She really wants her to learn English, please speak it to her." ME: "..." Other mom: "She says you only spoke Spanish yesterday." ME:"..." (thinking, "that is completely impossible inasmuch as I do not know spanish, and then I kept thinking and realized Suiry wasn't even in school that day, so I don't know who was speaking spanish to her, but it wasn't me!!! Good times!

Claudia said...

Betty, I loved your e-mail. I am so glad school is going so well this year. Working with students is the very best, I must agree -- and yours sound absolutely delightful. The first of each new year I was always so nervous -- and it hasn't changed 31 years later. At Opening School Institute this year I was a wreck and could hardly sleep the night before. Aren't we funny creatures.
Can't wait to learn more about your hear as it goes on. Keep on bloggin.

Now a note for Heidi on her Barrack comments. If you heard or watched the video I just did, I was appalled as well. Abortion is such an ugly issue. I don't always agree with Democrats on their abortion stance, but there are many Democrats just like me. We have to weigh the overall picture and not get hung up on any single issue. Believe me both parties have plenty of issues! When I noted who the narrator of the video was -- Sean Hannity, I wasn't surprised at its negative content. The likes of Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, McCain and Bush are far scarier to me than Barrack Obama! At the end of the video it refered you to a website nohussein.org. I went there and it was a bunch of Republican lies about Barrack. I loved the way they used his middle name to scare people into believing he is associated with Saddam. In fact the first few attempts to get to the website kept taking me to information about Saddam. I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was intentional.
Enough politics. They drive me crazy sometimes as you can see. I just hate mudslinging and Republicans are master slingers at election time.
Best wishes on your school year. Hope to see you and Heidi at Service Drug soon.
P.S. You'll always be a favorite of mine regardless of who you cast your vote for! I need to have a chat with your dad and pick his brain. Problem is his brain is too intelligent for me!

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