It’s ‘Why Not Wednesday’, which means wine, mac and cheese, and tater tots.
And I’m super psyched about working on the incentive plan for the whole 8th grade and making behavior trackers for some of my students. Also picked up ‘red balls’ aka fire balls for one of my students, as an incentive for having a good day in class. Who knew that the promise of a tiny piece of candy could work wonders on the most difficult students?
Killed it in New York this weekend.
I’m getting marginally better at balancing work/grad school/life.
I’m not sure how to start to describe the past month. Maybe I’ll start by saying that it’s true what they say – teachers do not get paid enough. And it’s not just because of the of the 12 or 14 hours days, breaking up fights in my classroom, chasing students down the hall after they bolt out of the room, being cursed at in English and Spanish, the paper balls and crayons flying across the room, or the fact that every morning on the way to work I feel like I’m going to throw up and have to keep repeating to myself ‘today will be better than yesterday, today will be better than yesterday…’
It. Is. Hard.
Let me say it again. It is hard, and I’m not good at it yet. For someone who is used to being good at things, it’s especially difficult. I know I will be a great teacher, but right now I’m struggling. It has been a long month. Some days I’m convinced that I can’t do it, but I make myself smile and I keep on repeating ‘today will be better than yesterday, today will be better than yesterday…’ and some days it is.
This week felt particularly long, but on Friday I had students in my room for a silent lunch detention and for whatever reason they couldn’t stop giggling. They were being so silly that at one point I had to walk away from them so that I wouldn’t burst out laughing, and then I did anyway. So we just sat there for the last five minutes of lunch, all of us uncontrollably giggling. On Thursday one student talked to me about the high schools she wanted to apply to and what she could do to get better grades this year. She asked if I would help with her application and write her a recommendation. On Wednesday morning, when I was serving breakfast in my room, I let one student DJ and I found out, to my great surprise, my kids like Call Me Maybe. And the moment when it clicked for T. and he ‘got’ prime factor trees and then went on do to extra problems! Those are the moments that I try to remember.
Every morning we start fresh. I smile and shake their hands at the door because I am genuinely happy to see each and every one of them. It is hard. And it is undeniably worth it.
Today was my first time in my new classroom. It’s kind of insane when I stop and think about it. Six months ago I was feeling antsy, unfulfilled, and realized that I was almost finished with graduate school and still had no real direction. Then, two and a half months ago I moved half-way across the country, and today I’m just over a week away from my first day teaching 8th grade in one of Philadelphia’s more challenging middle schools. Things have changed more quickly than I expected, but, oh-me-oh-my, I’m ready. I think.
(Taken with Instagram)
This morning I went to get a TB test. The nurse asked me where I worked and for the first time I got to tell someone (other than my friends) that I’m a middle school English and math teacher. It was a pretty amazing feeling to say those words aloud.
And as I was sitting, waiting to be called back to the room I started feeling a little overwhelmed, am I really doing this (the teaching, not the TB test)? Can I really do this? Then I thought about the kids I taught this summer, two of them just finished the 6th grade and are on a 2nd grade reading level. They are bright, charming boys who worked so hard and showed up every single day of summer school. I made them read aloud, and write in complete sentence. I made them answer questions and then pushed them to tell me why. And they hated it at first, but I remember one day when we were learning about inferences and for the first time everyone’s hands shot up, high in the air to answer the question. They were smiling and almost bursting because they wanted to give the answer, because they knew they knew it. Then, when we were reading aloud, instead of trying to get out of doing it, Willie asked me if he could read next.
So,yes. I’m really doing this. And this poem does a better job than I could explaining why - Taylor Mali: What teachers make.
I figured that since my first year of teaching is going to be insanely busy, really effing hard, and completely exhausting, I should have something going on outside of school. I’m not sure when exactly I convinced myself that training for a half marathon would be a good idea, but I did. In November I’m running the Philadelphia Half Marathon. So, it’s probably about time to unpack my sweet kicks and hit the pavement.
