This was a really good week. I think I'm enjoying this job much more now that I'm teaching real science content. I got angry at my homeroom class this morning, but the quiet reading assignment I made them do went really well. I think I've definitely reached a new level in classroom management. I did have the principal, who is nervous about managing the school without an assistant principal, walk into my classroom at a couple of inconvenient and mismanaged moments.
Yesterday I had an interesting interaction with a student that was certainly unique to middle school. After I had given the exam to my homeroom, I sat next to a student for about 10 minutes and tried to convince him that even though his video game got accidentally thrown away during lunch, he can't refuse to do any work until he gets the game back. I eventually got him to take the exam home to finish.
Yesterday was also the assistant principal's last day, which shook up the kids a bit.
The TAG small class today was bigger than usual, because a couple of them dropped out of TAG, but I improvised a lesson on acceleration and instantaneous speed inspired by the students' choice of YouTube video, a 6 minute montage of clips from failblog.org. The kid who suggested the video is my most challenging, unmotivated student, and even he was engaged!
I had a visit from the science chairperson, who I think has taken a special liking to me. She loved the student work I had hung up and really liked my new consequences and daily routines posters. She even offered bring me some bulletin board decorations that she has left over from her teaching days!
My last two classes were given a worksheet I made up last minute, so they could have more practice calculating speed, distance, and time, after mediocre results on the exit tickets. I let them talk quietly while working, and I had about 90% of students on task in both classes! One of my chattiest girls rocked the worksheet, and then helped her chatty friends with it in exchange for a Jolly Rancher. Today was a really good day for some of my toughest students, which is shocking for a Friday. I think I'm growing on them.
Sent from my iPad :)
Yesterday I had an interesting interaction with a student that was certainly unique to middle school. After I had given the exam to my homeroom, I sat next to a student for about 10 minutes and tried to convince him that even though his video game got accidentally thrown away during lunch, he can't refuse to do any work until he gets the game back. I eventually got him to take the exam home to finish.
Yesterday was also the assistant principal's last day, which shook up the kids a bit.
The TAG small class today was bigger than usual, because a couple of them dropped out of TAG, but I improvised a lesson on acceleration and instantaneous speed inspired by the students' choice of YouTube video, a 6 minute montage of clips from failblog.org. The kid who suggested the video is my most challenging, unmotivated student, and even he was engaged!
I had a visit from the science chairperson, who I think has taken a special liking to me. She loved the student work I had hung up and really liked my new consequences and daily routines posters. She even offered bring me some bulletin board decorations that she has left over from her teaching days!
My last two classes were given a worksheet I made up last minute, so they could have more practice calculating speed, distance, and time, after mediocre results on the exit tickets. I let them talk quietly while working, and I had about 90% of students on task in both classes! One of my chattiest girls rocked the worksheet, and then helped her chatty friends with it in exchange for a Jolly Rancher. Today was a really good day for some of my toughest students, which is shocking for a Friday. I think I'm growing on them.
Sent from my iPad :)
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