Teacher Tired

If I could sum up this week in one word it would be EXHAUSTED. I think it's hilarious that I ever thought that teaching was an "8-3" job, or that I would get everything I needed to get done during my hour and a half planning period every day. My day starts about 5:30 am. I arrive at school by 7:30, and I usually don't leave until 4:30 or 5:00. As much as I look forward to the weekends, I have learned that I will spend at least part of the weekend grading papers or creating resources and assignments. However, with all that being said and being as tired as I am, I still 100% love this experience.

I would rate this week a 3. It was a good week, especially without the stress of edTPA, but there were little hiccups here and there. I started out the week by getting another new student. This makes my fifth new student in the past couple of weeks. It really is stressful getting a new student. Trying to get them settled in the classroom and caught up to where you are is a daunting task especially when you consider that I only see them for an hour each day. On top of that, I learned of two heart breaking situations with two of my other students, and dealt with a threat that was made to the school by another student. Also, at the end of the week, 3 out of 4 of my classes did not pick up the new material as I had hoped so I had to change my lesson plans for next week at the last minute.

For standard 1 (NCPTS) this week, I was able to demonstrate leadership in the school by attending an MTSS meeting. While I did not actively participate in this meeting, my observation of the meeting allowed me a great opportunity to see MTSS in process. It was also very beneficial for me to listen in on the discussions about my particular students who had been brought to MTSS. I was able to hear first hand where they are in their interventions and/or testing process, and what I need to be doing to ensure that they are receiving the support they need until they are approved for resource math. This also allowed me to demonstrate standard 2.

Also for standard 2 this week, I found myself thinking about how I treat each one of my students. I learned of some very unfortunate and sad situations for a few of my students this week. After hearing these stories, I began thinking about how I get frustrated with these particular students because they don't turn in work, or have their materials, or give me their best effort everyday. I realize now that I don't always know what is going on in their lives and that I need to keep that in mind when creating an environment for my classroom. While I do think that middle schoolers need to be developing a sense of responsibility, sometimes it is better to just give them a pencil or paper because the parents can't or won't buy it for them. Sometimes less than 100% effort is all they can give me because of what went on at home last night. Sometimes they can't focus because they can only focus on the hunger in their stomach. Sometimes they act standoffish towards me because of the way all the other adults in their lives treat them. This has been one of the biggest and hardest lessons I have learned throughout my student teaching experience. I am over emotional even as I sit here typing this because I just want to hug these kids after learning about what has happened to them.

For standard 3 this week, I spent a lot of time looking at ways I can integrate other subjects into my math classroom. I had a little bit of an advantage this week as I was planning for pi day next Wednesday. I was able to incorporate global awareness, the history of pi, and even science as it is also Albert Einsteins birthday. However, I do still struggle with getting that cross curricular integration in on a more common basis. This is one of my main goals in the upcoming weeks.

For standard 4, at the end of the week I had to completely change my plans for next week because my students just weren't getting the material. During the lecture on Thursday, they seemed to be understanding and even expressed confidence in their ability to try the assignment. However, time did not allow us to get to the assignment until Friday, which turned into a major bust for 3 out of 4 of my classes. They were completely lost on what to do and there was a line of students at my desk waiting for help. I instructed the students to communicate with their group members and turn in their assignment whether they finished or not. I wanted to study their work and see if I could discover a common misconception or pattern that was happening. This coming Monday was suppose to be new material, but I have since decided to go over each problem in this assignment with the students in depth. Once we have gone over the problems and addressed misconceptions, I will give the students a  new assignment to re-assess their understanding of this content.

For standard 5, on Friday I spent a lot of time reflecting on my practice when things didn't go according to plan. I knew in advance, from my CE, that this particular material usually takes longer for the students to pick up. Even so, I was still completely thrown off when it turned into such a bust. I spent of a lot of time reflecting and talking with my CE about how I could have taught the material differently and what steps I should take next week.

Well, that about sums up my week. I hope everyone had a slightly better week than I did. Enjoy your weekend!