Trial and Error

I decided to stay at school today until 7:15. I'm being really productive. This is my halfway point break.

Yesterday's PD was a good opportunity to network with other Bridgeport science teachers, and made me realize how lucky I am to have so many of those opportunities. There was a lot of sitting around getting lectured, but it was a nice relaxing day. I even got a haircut.

This morning, I had some difficulty getting a class to stay on task during a lab. I need to figure out better incentives. I think I gave them too much time to do it, so there as a lot less motivation to work hard. I need to give them the right amount of time to do labs.

My homeroom class was great during a game of Jeopardy. I found a good online Jeopardy template. I had to add in a few rules as we went along, such as "If anyone talks after we go back to the Jeopardy home screen, your team is disqualified from the next question" and "If your team buzzes in repeatedly (and loudly), you will be disqualified from the question." The kids got really into the review session, and even policed each other a little bit. It was fun!

My last class was challenging. Some of that was my fault, or things I need to improve. First, I had just come from lunch duty, and was especially cranky. Also, I need to figure out how to hold kids accountable for bringing their guided notes packets back to class. If I ask them to quiet down and begin the Do Now, but only 1/3 of the class has their packets (with the Do Now on it), the class will be chaos. And I never got them back. I did maybe get the key points across to many of the students, but it was painful. And I lost one of my race cars.

Afterwards, though, my adviser came to speak to me and give me some advice. I got a whole list of specific ways to improve on consistency with my classroom management. Before this year, I didn't even know that consistency was something that needed to be practiced! Apparently, it's the most important thing in teaching. Students should know exactly what to expect for every good or bad behavior. Oh boy. I have some work to do.

He also gave me a great piece of advice: don't think of giving consequences as punishment, think of it as teaching good behavior. This should keep me from getting angry, because as much as I try, I still get angry. And once I'm angry, my teaching goes downhill very quickly (Inertia!).

I also need to figure out a way to create class-wide negative consequences. I need to think about it, but Adviser's idea was to give them 20 minutes of "fun" (video? state test review Jeopardy) time each Friday, and take time away if they misbehave as a class.

Good ideas. New ideas make me excited for a new day. I keep noticing that teaching is trial and error, with huge successes and failures. Mentor and Adviser (and Principal) give me ideas, and some (many) work for me, but not all fit me perfectly. I have new things to try tomorrow, and Adviser will stop by to watch.

And then, at the end of the day, some kids in my homeroom class were gushing with enthusiasm for Science Fair. It reminds me that my job is pretty much to teach kids how to be curious. Best job ever? Not today, but getting there.