Friday, September 25, 2009

Learning a Different Way

If you've ever been in a classroom, you should realize that it's not an easy job. It's hard, especially today in my opinion. Times are different now, even compared to when I went to school, and I'm not just talking abou behavior wise.

A lot is put on teachers today. We're expected to cover curriculum topics and outcomes according to the provincial government. We're expected to deal with large class sizes with more needs. We're expected to be on top of it all. I have days where I sometimes feel like I fail as a teacher-that the lesson wasn't good enough or my approach wasn't the right one. Teaching is not an easy task. It requires a lot of hard work and a lot of patience.

I'm in a new position at a new school. A split classroom. Do I feel like Superwoman? Heck no. I'm trying to stay afloat and meet all the different needs of the students. Am I doing it? I think most of the time I am except maybe when I have a lesson flop. I may finally be figuring out a system that I can live with, that may just lead me to some success within my class.

At the end of the day, I want to come away knowing that I did absolutely everything possible to help the student achieve everything possible for that particular student. I want them to know that they are important no matter their test mark, assessment level or ability.

Just a sidenote to share that I'm sick-got a bad cold, and was diagnosed with Vertigo a week ago. I feel pretty shitty right now, but at least I had a good school day!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

First Week of School and Then Some...

So, I have finished my first week of school! Every morning I came in, the secretary would say to me, oh good, you came back! Ah....I like it, I do. Different in a sense from Sandy Bay, but I really like it. Sandy Bay had over 1000 kids plus over 120 staff whereas my new school has about 140 kids, and only 8 teachers-so it's different, but it's a good different.

I have a large class-I'm teaching a split grade 5/6, but I can honestly say that despite not having a honeymoon period, they all have something wonderful about them. I have quite a few more girls than boys, and more Grade 6's than Grade 5's.

I was told the other day by a sister of my student, that their mom thought I was pregnant. My response, nope, no baby, no baby. I felt like saying (though I would never say this to a child), "nope, I'm just fat..."...lol...I love the honesty of kids, honestly. I had to choose to laugh, because what else was I going to do? Actually, I'm not fat...I have very lovely curves!

So as I said no honeymoon period, but I wouldn't call the kids bad...they're just testing the waters. Heck, I would be too. I remmeber being that age, and I tested the waters a lot!

I'm excited by what's to come-I'm exhausted, but I'm really excited. I really think it's going to be a great year and I'm really excited about the group of kids I have. So, I'm going to toast a new school year with my diet coke...cheers!