60 Days
Hit another milestone today. Officially made it through 60 days of teaching which also means I'm 1/3 of the way through the year and as of Monday I'll have completed three months of teaching. Funny how it feels like so much and so little time has passed at the same time.
In an attempt to calm my students down reinforce positive behavior I'm using a Christmas Party (oops! winter party?) as an incentive. There is a blank Christmas tree on my board that I will fill in piece by piece each time a table earns 25 points. It was remarkable how effective the phrase "Show me you're ready for the Christmas party" was in getting students to be quiet, sit up and listen. Of course there was the question, when are we having the party? I explained it would be in three weeks, right before break. "It might as well be a thousand years away," Lil Miss Stay Puff remarked. Note to self: Find more immediate incentives. It's also funny that as a Jewish teacher I still didn't even pause to think about calling the party a Christmas party.
In other news, I had my observation with the principal on Wednesday. I think it went really well and the students behaved perfectly. I didn't think much of it, because who's going to act out when the principal is in the class? But as my mentor and another teacher told me, the kids know they can make you look like a fool by acting out. If they give their best it's a sign that they care and are willing to show up and have your back when it counts. I don't know if that's really true, but for now believing it is enough to give me a bit of comfort.
Quick weekend to get focused, relaxed and recharged. Then it's back to the trenches!
In an attempt to calm my students down reinforce positive behavior I'm using a Christmas Party (oops! winter party?) as an incentive. There is a blank Christmas tree on my board that I will fill in piece by piece each time a table earns 25 points. It was remarkable how effective the phrase "Show me you're ready for the Christmas party" was in getting students to be quiet, sit up and listen. Of course there was the question, when are we having the party? I explained it would be in three weeks, right before break. "It might as well be a thousand years away," Lil Miss Stay Puff remarked. Note to self: Find more immediate incentives. It's also funny that as a Jewish teacher I still didn't even pause to think about calling the party a Christmas party.
In other news, I had my observation with the principal on Wednesday. I think it went really well and the students behaved perfectly. I didn't think much of it, because who's going to act out when the principal is in the class? But as my mentor and another teacher told me, the kids know they can make you look like a fool by acting out. If they give their best it's a sign that they care and are willing to show up and have your back when it counts. I don't know if that's really true, but for now believing it is enough to give me a bit of comfort.
Quick weekend to get focused, relaxed and recharged. Then it's back to the trenches!
Comments
You'd be surprised how kids act when you are being supervised.
Just wait until someone is in observing one of your students for a referral. That student will be an angel and whatever the observer is looking for will occur that day.
That's a real compliment that they didn't behave poorly in front of your evaluator, cuz they sure as heck knew the score.
Hugh aka Repairman