Friday, September 19, 2008

Woo!! It's FRIDAY!!

You guys, I made it! Hurrah and hooray!

This week was at least ten times better than last week. Not good or great by any means, but not miserable either. Case in point: NO CRYING!!

Let's celebrate with some alcohol!

Erm, and then more lesson planning, because holy crap, I have SO.MUCH.TO.DO.

Three of my four classes are improving, and the last one is still kicking my ass but good. Next week there should be a removal of one student that will help, but it won't solve the underlying problem of me not managing them well enough. I've reached out to several people for help though, and they've reminded me of some basics that I've been slacking on. One is serious detention.

Last week I paged through our chapter and created outline notes for the students to fill in during class. It definitely helped because there was plenty for the students to do. The good ones actually went ahead of me at their own pace, which I loved! I did some songs-and-dance (uh, no, not literally, though I probably should think about actually doing that) to talk about some of the places in the book, and had a couple student demonstrations of events, which they loved. And they asked me questions like I actually knew something, when really I only knew what was in the text. (I'm a good speaker. :D) Having the text and the notes as backup allowed me to be more energetic and proactive in front of the kids.

Since I had organized myself for the week, I was sure I'd get started on the next weeks and finally feel ahead in planning. Yeah, not so much. I've been checking and inputting homework more regularly, but realized that even one day behind leaves me under a mountain of papers. Still working on the logistics and what I want from them.

Oh, and how's this for a fun fact? My air-conditioning is being installed. Just in time for the cool fall weather! Sigh.

And now it's time to EAT because I'm starving and then crash because I'm exhausted. Happy weekend, everyone!

3 comments:

Schoolgal said...

So happy you had a good week. In time it all comes together.

You have detention? How great is that! You should have the class come up with specific rules so if they break them, they understand why they are being sent to detention. And remember to always follow through on what you say--no 2nd chances.

Keep behavior logs too, and call parents so they will understand your grades before they see you on open school night. It helps lessen the blow when they get the report card.

Hope you enjoy your weekend.

Jenna said...

congrats on making it through!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad this week was an improvement, and seeing more areas for growth is NOT a bad thing - you should always be striving to improve, or you'll get bored.