out late--but not angry
well, i wasn't angry. some of them were. or, just frustrated.
my afternoon class has been really challenging this week. they talk a lot. yesterday i got really mad and threatened to cancel reader's workshop and said that their reading level would stay at 4th grade.
then, shocked that those words had actually come out of my mouth, i told them that we were going to keep reading and i wasn't going to give up on them.
today was a shorter day. we had an assembly that took up almost all of the first period, and they were AMAZING--i thought they were going to be awful, but they were really well behaved. when you're in an assembly with all the other 8th grade teachers and students, and your administrator, you just kinda want your kids to be good. after all, they are my kids for 2 hours every day.
so they were great, and they came back, and they did waste a little time which is why we got out late. but, i made a pledge not to get angry today like i did yesterday. i put up a schedule, we reviewed what had to get done, and i kept them to their timetable. we started reading about 5 minutes late, so they got dismissed 5 minutes late. it wasn't awful or anything--just slightly unpleasant. it definitely shut them up, though. they were so quiet at the beginning of reading that i could actually start calling individual students up to read with me. that is a major miracle--i didn't actually think that was going to happen in this class, ever.
the four things that i think made today better are:
1) i decided not to get angry and i was really calm and at times playful with them
2) it was a short day and we really only had about 65 minutes together in the classroom (as opposed to the usual 125 minutes).
3) i was really specific and explicit about how long we needed for each thing. more work for me, but it's meant to head problems off at the pass in terms of management. if i can point someone out and say "you're talking and we're already 2 minutes behind," it is really helpful. they ask if just the people who are talking can stay late, and while it's not fair, i told them no--it's disrupting the entire class's learning.
4) my weekly volunteer was here
i feel more positive than i have so far this week. two out of that list of 4 can be replicated each day. unfortunately, i can't have my wednesday volunteer every day, and we will have our usual 125 minutes back. i REALLY need to think of something at least mildly school-related that gets them out of their seats every day at some point. that's my homework for tonight (among other things).
my afternoon class has been really challenging this week. they talk a lot. yesterday i got really mad and threatened to cancel reader's workshop and said that their reading level would stay at 4th grade.
then, shocked that those words had actually come out of my mouth, i told them that we were going to keep reading and i wasn't going to give up on them.
today was a shorter day. we had an assembly that took up almost all of the first period, and they were AMAZING--i thought they were going to be awful, but they were really well behaved. when you're in an assembly with all the other 8th grade teachers and students, and your administrator, you just kinda want your kids to be good. after all, they are my kids for 2 hours every day.
so they were great, and they came back, and they did waste a little time which is why we got out late. but, i made a pledge not to get angry today like i did yesterday. i put up a schedule, we reviewed what had to get done, and i kept them to their timetable. we started reading about 5 minutes late, so they got dismissed 5 minutes late. it wasn't awful or anything--just slightly unpleasant. it definitely shut them up, though. they were so quiet at the beginning of reading that i could actually start calling individual students up to read with me. that is a major miracle--i didn't actually think that was going to happen in this class, ever.
the four things that i think made today better are:
1) i decided not to get angry and i was really calm and at times playful with them
2) it was a short day and we really only had about 65 minutes together in the classroom (as opposed to the usual 125 minutes).
3) i was really specific and explicit about how long we needed for each thing. more work for me, but it's meant to head problems off at the pass in terms of management. if i can point someone out and say "you're talking and we're already 2 minutes behind," it is really helpful. they ask if just the people who are talking can stay late, and while it's not fair, i told them no--it's disrupting the entire class's learning.
4) my weekly volunteer was here
i feel more positive than i have so far this week. two out of that list of 4 can be replicated each day. unfortunately, i can't have my wednesday volunteer every day, and we will have our usual 125 minutes back. i REALLY need to think of something at least mildly school-related that gets them out of their seats every day at some point. that's my homework for tonight (among other things).
posted by Allyson B. at
1:44 PM
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