Hello all.
Like Ellen said, I can't believe that our second week is over! The week few by and I can't believe how much I have grown as a teacher in only a week.
Some things that I learned this week were WAIT-TIME. I'm not good at it - I'm not patient! I also learned how to respond to students who answer a question wrong. It's hard for me to take an answer that is wrong and turn it into a good answer. But it's important for 7th graders to know that they were sorta-right instead of saying "no, that's a horrible answer."
I had the opportunity to experience a team meeting that involved parents and psychologists this week. In my "team" there is a student (I'll call him Bob) who has been having a lot of difficulty. He has a learning disorder and he has behavioral issues. However, last Friday, his behaviors began to escalade to childish - "Well, Jill got to go and I don't get to go but she did. It's not fair!" and to mean - he began to bully those around him. Then on Monday, my first day of teaching, he had an inch wide about five inches long cut on both sides of his wrist. And he was taking his eraser and digging it open and spreading the blood on his paper. Let me take a moment and talk about myself -ON MY FIRST DAY OF TEACHING. Thank God that Mrs. Riddlemoser was in the room! Ok, back to Bob, so, my co-op called a team meeting about it where it was decided to bring in the parents. Well, the mother is a single mother who is just fed up with Bob's attitude and problems because she has two other kids at home. And the psychologist seemed to have nothing to say and the social work who comes to the house twice a week said, "Well, he just sits in the basement and plays games all night."
This child is screaming for attention - and no one wants to help him. In my last post I talked about PSSA nonsense and now I'm, again, talking about how the system isn't helping students. This is how the meeting went:
Person 1 - Well, I would like to help him but I'm not allowed to use such-and-such a paper to write him up.
Person 2 - It would be nice to help him but it's not inside my 4-walls.
Person 3 - I could see him being the kid who brings a gun to school but I don't know what his problem is.
Person 4 - I think we need to identify his problems before we begin to help him.
Person 5 - I don't care what his problems are as long as I have a plan to help him.
Person 2 - Well, Person 4 has the authority to blah-blah.
Person 4 - Not really, that would go to Person 6 (not present at the meeting).
Person 3 - Well Person 6 doesn't really care that much.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?
I was two seconds away from pulling out my hair! Right now I would much rather be talking about LFS lesson plans and what a great time I'm having being a student teacher - but this is all I hear all day! These kids need help and no one will help them!
Ok, I'm sorry for my ranting - it's just so upsetting and annoying!
Seriously though, on the teacher side of it, I have grown two billion times over as a teacher this week. On Friday, Mrs. Riddlemoser was sick so I had all of the classes solely to myself and it went really well! It was a great way to end the week.
:)
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I'm glad things went well with you in charge! I am also really disappointed with how teachers/administrators view the "problem kids" in schools. At a team meeting this week, my team and the principal were talking about a few students and saying that they can't expect their good behavior to continue once the musical is over, etc.
ReplyDeleteAre we idealists? I feel like there shouldn't be so much of the blame game in schools, and that parents and teachers should be working together to make sure every student can succeed. I think parents will frustrate me, and I wish that there weren't so many rules about who can fill out which papers, etc.
What will you be teaching? And when do you start teaching with your lesson plans? I'm excited to hear your stories about your instruction and your plans and how things go when you are the "boss." :)
Jenna I'm sorry to hear that Bob is having such trouble. As a new teacher I feel like that's one of the hardest things you could have been dealt because as a student teacher you don't reallly know how to deal with it. I mean I don't think sitting in a college classroom would prepare you for that sort of thing. I think it's equally sad how the problem was addressed and the fact that no one seemed to want to step up and do anythign and instead blamed other people, tried to make it other people's responsibility and just generally did nothing. The sad thing is that Bob will be the one who loses out.
ReplyDeleteOn a happier note I'm glad to hear that your classes went well especially when your co-op wasn't there and you got to teach them by yourself. I agree that it interesting how much you grow even from one week to another. Good luck with your upcoming week and I hope you continue to make great strides.
Jenna,
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine how frustarted you must have been during the meeting! It almost seems as if no one wants to get their hands dirty; it is truly unfortunate. My best advice (because I have to do it as well) is make a promise to yourself that you will never be that teacher who just gives up on a kid. I'm having that issue in my placement now- a student's parents are getting a divorce and he just completely refuses to do ANYTHING in class... no homework, no classwork, no projects, no papers... it really is a crappy situation. Even though we as teachers can not give these kids preferntial treatment, we need to still be there for them and help them anyway we can.
I think one of the first things we learn as new teachers (that we, of course, are not prepared for in our methods classes) is that we really are 1) the parent 2) the nurse 3) the social worker 4) the psychologist 5) the disciplinarian and finally 6) the teacher (imagine that!) all rolled into one. You've chosen a very difficult profession, but I have every confidence in you!
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone for all of the advice and comments! :)
ReplyDeleteLike Dr. Mortimore said, I hadn't realized how much of being a teacher was being a parent, a helpful hand, a listening ear, a psychologist... I truly wasn't prepared for it!
And like many of you mentioned, it really is "Bob" who loses in this situation. I just try to help him out in my class - and that's all I can do!