My last full day of teaching was yesterday. It was a very bittersweet day. I'm sad because I just don't want to stop teaching but I'm excited to try out a new class. The students were all very wild because Thursday was our field trip (which I will talk about a little later) and yesterday was Scarecrow day. We also had 2 tests to get through, one being our spelling and the other our reading. It's hard to teach students when they don't really care to learn... obviously. I tried to point out multiple times why it was important to learn about plurals and also brought out the 'this will be on your test.' Now that I think about it, it worked and got their attention more than the 'you should know this because you will encounter plurals the rest of your life' speech. I don't like teaching 'to the test' or giving students any inkling that the only reason this is important is because of a test. That was my mindset though high school and I don't remember a thing I crammed on those late nights before the test.
I became really frustrated during my math lesson. The students didn't want to look forward at the board or even listen because they were too busy talking to their neighbor. I think I tried every trick in the book for this one...I first tried to tell them those that were doing their 'parrt' would be able to come up and use my teacher pen on the new Promethean board. (I told them before that I have to be able to trust them to use it.) This didn't phase anyone. I was already using my 'this is really exciting' tone to see it that would get their attention. I felt bad for the 3 individuals who were raising their hand every time and were listening. After that I tried the 'I use this math everyday in my life and so does Mrs. S.' then I tired telling them (and something I didn't want to do) this was on their test they would be taking in a week. That got their attention long enough to get through the first problem. Here is where my quote comes in. I became very frustrated with the group and decided it was time to just stop and take a moment to talk to them. I reminded them this was my last day full time teaching. I told them that I had stayed at school until 7pm the night before (and I had!) planning my lessons so that I could do a good job being their teacher for the last day. So I had them go back to their chairs and I turned the light off for a minute while they were to think about something they would do differently when the learning began again. I think this time helped me more than them. It gave me a time out to re-coop my thoughts and to think about what had happened and what I would do differently next time. Our class is still very immature and even after this time out I still had students that just didn't get it. At least it helped me and a few of the other students. During our share time (what they would do differently) I have a few students stuck on the fact that I would be leaving soon and once one person said 'I will miss you' the rest thought they should share that too. It was bittersweet to hear since I like what they said, but still wanted an answer.
One student who I've really been working hard with had a great day. He has a notebook in which we write what is going on and send home every day. Since he can't read cursive yet I walk down to his after school program and take a few minutes read what was written and talk about how we can make it better. Thursday was a not so great day (I'm refraining from saying bad) and we talked about how he lets things distract him from learning. As I was telling him this the blue dot on the table seemed to be more important and I decided to use this as a teachable moment. I asked him what he learned on our trip that day. As he was telling me I found my own purple dot and began picking at it. He was unable to tell me what he learned because he was frustrated that I wasn't looking and listening to him. I them told him this is how I feel when I'm teaching and you are playing with things around you. I told him that learning is not happening when we are distracted. Then yesterday he did a great job looking at me and listening. He even got a compliment from the practicum teacher that was now in the room. After I reviewed some things about fact and opinion and plurals we had to take the test. The student found that he was able to do a great job on the test and then I brought up how I noticed he was always doing a great job at listening and paying attention. We both agreed that this helped. After school when I went to meet him we had a really good talk. It was bittersweet because I told him how great of a job he did that day and then we talked about how he needs to keep it up even after I'm gone. I told him that the teacher has my number and can call me and tell me whether you are doing a good or bad job. My ct and I also talked and she asked if she could mention that she will be calling me after I leave if he isn't on his best behavior. I think it's important to hold students accountable for their actions. Even as adults we are restricted by social norms and laws for our behavior.
I'm glad I still have a week left with my class. It will be sad on my last day because I have created a good bond with the class and I will miss them a great deal. I'm hoping I can visit a few more times this year and my CT said she would even call me to sub! Saying good by will not be easy come next Friday :(
Daniell,
ReplyDeleteIt is great that you can step back and take that much needed breath. I had a hard time doing this during the beginning of my placement, but by the end I think I had it down pretty well. The students know when we get frustrated so how can we change the mood in our clasroom unless we take the initiative to step back, calm down, and start over? We need to remember the clean slate. Starting with a clean slate each morning is very important, but sometimes it needs to be even more often than that. I have noticed myself saying, "Well that was a terrible morning, but we can start the afternoon off on a different foot. Forget this morning, just start fresh." I know that students can tell. The can tell in our posture, in our tone of voice, and our body language. If we can step back, take that much needed breath, and move on we might not have to get so angry or have to have so many talks.