Monday, September 16, 2013

Just Another Manic Monday



Hello all! Welcome back! I hope ya’ll had a great weekend. I know that I sure did! Including a three and a half hour nap yesterday. It. Was. Awesome.

And I needed that sleep to get ready for this week. First thing this morning we found out that one of our students… who complained of his hand hurting Friday afternoon after falling on the soccer field, had broken his wrist. He is in a soft cast and sling. Oops. The p.e. teacher, the secretary, my rockstar teacher, and I all thought that it was nothing, just an injury that he was milking. That’s the hard thing about kids this age. It’s very hard to tell when they have a serious injury or sickness because to them, EVERY injury or sickness is a serious one. I suppose we just try to cover all of our bases and hope for the best. We also have an enormous respect issue with another of our boys. He is uninterested, disrespectful, and purposely mean to others. It’s a difficult issue to address….

Good thing that I have 9 more weeks to practice.  Can you believe it?! This is my 6th week of working at St. Michael’s... although it’s technically only my 4th week of teaching. And I almost have the entire classroom already. Pretty cool. A little stressful, but pretty cool.

A little insight…

For those of you who don’t realize (recently, it’s come to my attention that many people don’t), lesson planning is by far the hardest part of teaching. Teaching itself comes very naturally to me. I instinctively check for student understanding, look for participation, and differentiate for different student needs. It’s one thing to know and actively be able to do these things, but it’s completely another to write down each detail of when, and how, and where, and why you’re going to do everything. GAHH. Honestly, I’ve only written a handful of complete lesson plans (in the official Briar Cliff format… it’s quite thorough), but lesson plans are something that you must have for each lesson you teach. For an elementary teacher, that’s about 5-6 lessons each day. When my lessons come from another source such as the teacher’s manual, they are fairly short and include objectives, intro, lesson, activity, and conclusion. It might fit on a post it note. :) (it’s pretty cool actually!) But when I come up with my own lessons (when those creative juices are flowing), it takes a long time. It might take me an hour to write a lesson that only takes a half hour to teach. The time commitment is real. Teachers are some dedicated individuals! :) Hopefully someday soonish I’ll be experienced enough (and have enough resources) to master the art of winging it. I suppose we’ll see.

At the end of today, another teacher in the building stopped by with copies of an article entitled Needed: A report card on America’s parents. I LOVE IT. If you’ve got some extra time, please check it out!


So worth the read. Not everything can be put on the teachers. And before I start preaching or venting, I’ll sign off for the day.

Until tomorrow…
Peace, love, and controversy,
Jayna