One down....

35 more weeks to go. My first week is over and I have to admit, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been or as I anticpated it. A few observations: 1) I can't believe how different I am with different classes. I have an two Honors sections that I adore. I can joke around, have discussions, tell them about myself, and ask their collective thoughts without it becoming out of control. These classes love me. I have juniors coming up to me every day asking if they can transfer into my class. With my seniors, it's another story. They don't wanna work, they don't like my rules, any time we try to have a discussion or group work they get out of hand and won't calm down, so I have to be a hardass. I have seniors come up to me almost every day telling me they're going to transfer out of my class. 2) It's amazing how aggressive the students and administators are. My second day, I was taking a student to the office for refusing to do any work. When I stopped to ask another teacher to cover my class for a minute, she and another colleague (again female) both came outside and started to rip into my student. I'll quote part of what was actually said: "Boy, if I wouldn't get in trouble I'd take you into that bathroom and jack you up myself!" The student, who had refused to answer any of my calm, rational options or responses, willingly went back into the classroom and did my work. Also, every day I hear an administrator use the word "butt" in telling a student to get his or her butt "back where you came from" or "to wherever you're going." There are no requests, salutations, "pleases" or "thank yous." An administrator came into my room the other day when I was reading the required sections of the student handbook to my Honors class. Because the students had all heard this before, I didn't mind if they slept or put their head down as long as they were quiet. The administrator came in unannounced, walked to the back of the room, and popped the hell out of a student that was asleep on his desk. Everyone else laughed and I kept reading. 3) The worst part of my school day is after school is dismissed. Myself, with about 5-7 other male teachers, stand outside the school and watch as the entire student body mingles and waits for the buses to leave. The students can get away with anything here. Cursing, use of cell phones, giving the bird, pushing and shoving are all allowed. A student came up to me the other day and said to my face, "Yeah, boy, you in the real world now." I couldn't do anything because if I asked for his name, I wouldn't know whether he was telling the truth or not. Also, if I tried to escort him to the office, he could have walked down the street to his house. I asked him to repeat himself and muttered something about me being white. I'll go ahead and say it now, there will be a fight or some other problem during this period before the school year is out. 4) My students are not used to a teacher as strict as I am. They don't like raising their hands to do anything and they don't like how I control the discussion. Many of them complained ad nauseum about my bathroom policy (2 emergency uses per semester) and/or the amount of work I gave them during the first week (every class had to do at least 2 writing assignments where they wrote at least 1/2 page). But despite the fact that they are reluctant to do the work, I think most of them really want to learn and really want to be challenged. 5) I am so tired. Up at 6:20 every morning, home from work about 5, grade papers, lesson plan, eat, watch "Entourage" with the roomates, talk to the girlfriend, and then it's bedtime. I can't wait until I get more organized. 6) I'm still in survival mode. It's going to be nice when I can get to the point where kids leave class and I'm not thinking "Thank God no one killed anybody else." It's actually not that bad, but I still feel like I'm trying to keep them entertained/quiet instead of getting them to learn.
All that being said, the primary reason I don't feel overwhelmed is because of the support I have. Classmates who are going through the same thing, roomates who share the same stories and give me ideas, friends that laugh at my expense but also care, a girlfriend who genuinely wants to help, professors that are concerned, and family that provides constant support. Thanks to all of you.

A What? A Blog

So now that I've spent the past 7 days either in district induction or school induction, I've noticed some observations among my colleagues. First of all, very few teachers can listen to a presentation without commenting. Someone (at least one person, but most of the time it's more like 3-12, depending on the size of the group) has to expound upon her (occasionally it's a male, but not usually) personal feelings/experiences/thoughts/beliefs on whatever subject is being discussed. And when I say subject, I don't mean something broad and general, like "Getting Parents Involved." I mean something as specific and trivial as a book that someone read 5 pages of in the third grade while visiting a sick grandmother in Kansas City. Possible responses: "Oooh, yes, I love that book... I read that to my kids every day!" or "Mmmhmm, don't act like you haven't read that one." At first, this was pretty amusing. Seven days later, extremely irritating. Another common theme is interjecting the question "what?" into mid-sentence and then answering the question without pause. I can't decide if this is some feeble attempt at teaching that hasn't been weeded out, or if this is a cultural thing, but it blows my mind. The funny thing about this is that you can provide the "what?" at any point and in any context, whether the proceeding answer is obvious or completely random. Some examples: "We just go on and on and what? on" or "I hope you all have a complete and thorough what? understanding" or "We've got to what? access students skills of understanding" or "Notice how each table what? has its back." I can't understand if these questioners really expect us to be that intuned with their thought process or if it's purposely rhetorical, but it's fascinating. Finally, no one can fail. And I think that this partially contributes with the low academic success of our schools. People can give answers that are completely wrong, irrelevant, illogical, irrational, or just plan stupid, but no one will openly correct them. People might not say anything or write their own answers or not comment, but in general everyone is so reluctant to tell someone that they're doing something wrong. And I'm guilty of this too. Partially because I'm nonconfrontational by nature and partially because I'm a new teacher, but I won't correct someone either. I think that someone should be delegated group leader or something at all these workshops to make sure that teachers aren't getting the wrong information. Everyone is really supportive, but let's be honest, not every idea can be the greatest thing you've ever heard. Anyways, these were just some observations I've had on what? my first few days in the swing of things.