I've been working all over the place for the past few weeks. I been to middle schools and high schools, and I even subbed for a teacher that I had at Classical. Last week I got a long term job at a middle school. I have a good friend who's a TA there, and works on the same floor as me which is nice. I am only supposed to be there until the 28th, but the head of the English department has told me that she does not think the teacher I am replacing is coming back. She is apparently having some sort of nervous breakdown, which is quite discouraging considering we are only three weeks into school. This may mean that I could be there for a while.
The kids are similar to the kids I was with all last year; jaded Read 180 eighth graders who do their best to resist reading anything. They are incredibly challenging to teach, and often have severe behavioral issues. I understand their frustration with school; it can't be easy to sit in a classroom for two hours when you're a fourteen year old reading at a third grade reading level.
The teacher left me with no work, no unit plan or scope and sequence, and very few materials. I've been winging it while I try to get some of the curriculum together. The literacy coach has given me a bunch of materials, and basically wants me to teach to the NECAP (the quarterly RI standardized test) until the students take it in the first week of October. I've been doing "Two Minute Mysteries" to lighten up part of the two hours I'm with the Read 180 kids. Most of the kids seem to enjoy them, and I've been giving out mini Airheads if they can solve thy mystery. The mysteries are actually a useful tool in helping them with their reading comprehension. Even though they aren't reading, they have to listen to me read and decode and make sense of what they are hearing in order to put together the clues and figure out the mystery. It's actually quite challenging for them.
It's a hard job, and I come home mentally drained and with a strained voice from yelling, but somehow I want to stay. I could work in an easier district, go back to Coventry, but no. This is what is going to make me a good teacher.
The kids are similar to the kids I was with all last year; jaded Read 180 eighth graders who do their best to resist reading anything. They are incredibly challenging to teach, and often have severe behavioral issues. I understand their frustration with school; it can't be easy to sit in a classroom for two hours when you're a fourteen year old reading at a third grade reading level.
The teacher left me with no work, no unit plan or scope and sequence, and very few materials. I've been winging it while I try to get some of the curriculum together. The literacy coach has given me a bunch of materials, and basically wants me to teach to the NECAP (the quarterly RI standardized test) until the students take it in the first week of October. I've been doing "Two Minute Mysteries" to lighten up part of the two hours I'm with the Read 180 kids. Most of the kids seem to enjoy them, and I've been giving out mini Airheads if they can solve thy mystery. The mysteries are actually a useful tool in helping them with their reading comprehension. Even though they aren't reading, they have to listen to me read and decode and make sense of what they are hearing in order to put together the clues and figure out the mystery. It's actually quite challenging for them.
It's a hard job, and I come home mentally drained and with a strained voice from yelling, but somehow I want to stay. I could work in an easier district, go back to Coventry, but no. This is what is going to make me a good teacher.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
~cheers