The mail just came and I received a letter from my school, it was an invitation to a big fundraiser that the school is hosting. But as I was going through the rest of the mail, I saw that my mom received something from the school as well. My mom joked, did you get in trouble already?
Of course I could not contain my curiosity and read the letter she received over her shoulder and this is what it said:
Dear Husband, Wife, Partner, Parent, Child or Concerned Friend of new staff members,
The mission of creating our new, exemplary elementary school for the young people of Chicago is critically important work. Your partner or friend has chosen to join us in our quest to create a high achieving school with strong academics and a focus on holistic education through educating the mind and the body of each child. It is no small task; the labor is arduous, the long hours, the building is HOT ... The select few who have made this great commitment deserve our highest recognition.
In an effort to 'practice what we preach' and create a well-rounded environment where children and adults listen to their bodies, take care of their needs and working hard to achieve at high levels, but know when to take a break, the next four weeks of work are trying and difficult; starting at a school takes a toll on the mind and the heart.
Therefore, it is my request that you make every effort to spoil these noble educators to the fullest of your ability in he next several weeks as they share their trials and tribulations of the new school year with you. Spoil them rotten. this could include, but not limited to: fine dining, entertainment, breakfast in bed, champagne and relief from household responsibilities, such as 'doing the dishes' and 'removal of trash.' Gifts would not be out of the question.
The young people of Chicago need them here, each Monday morning, in fighting form. It is among the most important of work we can do- and as you may now have come to realize, you are also a partner...
Sincerely
[The principal of my school]
As I read this letter I could not help but think of all of my cohort members as we all navigate the first weeks of schools. So I remind all of you to take care of your selves, show this post to your significant other, make them do the dishes :) and, as my mentor at my school told me on Thursday, SMILE!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Trying to strike a balance: My first week
As I sit here in the living room, I cannot bring myself to do any work for school. I am trying to heed to Mandy and Erica's advice that I take one day out of the weekend for myself, where I do not do any work for school. Though I am still thinking about school, and am reflecting about school, I am technically not doing any real tangible work, so I guess, I am, to an extent, heeding to their advice. I wonder if they would agree... :)
Though there is always something that NEEDS to be done in the classroom, I realized, after staying up till 2 in the morning on that first day of school doing thing that I needed to do but that were not time sensitive, and seeing how tired I was for the second day of school, I saw that I could not keep up this pace, leaving school at around 6:00, having a half hour drive, eating and then getting to work on things that needed to be done, not necessarily for the next day, but just to make things pretty.
What is weighing most heavily in my mind is how to ensure that 4 of our students do not demand all of our attention all of the time while providing all of our students, where ever they may be academically, whether they be on the autism spectrum, or have behavior issues the best education that they are entitled to and that I know we can provide. But part of me is scared that we may not be able to accomplish this...
We have a boy who I will call Doug, he is so mean and defiant and I was asking my mother, how can a child so young be so malacious? Picking on other children, getting in their faces and not listening to anything either me or my co teacher say?
We have another boy who I will call Joe. Joe has had a very hard young life, he is living with other family because he was taken away from his parents, because of how badly they mistreated him. He can be as difiant as Doug is and though I know he can be a very sweet child, he can be malacious as well.
Our autistic boy, who I will call Omar, does not have a lot of language and sometimes I am unsure as to wheter he understands me or not. But Omar seems to have taken an instant likeing to Joe. Of all the children in our classroom it is Joe with whom he has tried to connect with, but Joe and Doug as well, seem to be very jeolous of any attention that me or my coteacher might pay on Omar when we ware not dealing with either of them. They are constantly trying to see what we are doing with Omar, even if it means they will get in trouble because they are not listening to the teacher who is leading intruction, and I feel that after we have spent time working with Omar, trying to get him to participate in our class and talking to him, both Joe and Doug seek Omar out and start to pick on him.
I really do not understand this behavior, because, both Dough and Joe are our priority, we constantly spend time with them trying to get them to do the class work we set the other children with and we always meet with Omar last because he is not constantly bothering anyone or interfering with instruction while distracting other children.
My heart breaks everytime I see Omar interacting with these two boys. I will try my best to protect Omar as much as I can but I want to make sure that I am a good teacher to all my students as well, protecting all of them and making sure that we have a safe and caring learning enviornment.
Though there is always something that NEEDS to be done in the classroom, I realized, after staying up till 2 in the morning on that first day of school doing thing that I needed to do but that were not time sensitive, and seeing how tired I was for the second day of school, I saw that I could not keep up this pace, leaving school at around 6:00, having a half hour drive, eating and then getting to work on things that needed to be done, not necessarily for the next day, but just to make things pretty.
What is weighing most heavily in my mind is how to ensure that 4 of our students do not demand all of our attention all of the time while providing all of our students, where ever they may be academically, whether they be on the autism spectrum, or have behavior issues the best education that they are entitled to and that I know we can provide. But part of me is scared that we may not be able to accomplish this...
We have a boy who I will call Doug, he is so mean and defiant and I was asking my mother, how can a child so young be so malacious? Picking on other children, getting in their faces and not listening to anything either me or my co teacher say?
We have another boy who I will call Joe. Joe has had a very hard young life, he is living with other family because he was taken away from his parents, because of how badly they mistreated him. He can be as difiant as Doug is and though I know he can be a very sweet child, he can be malacious as well.
Our autistic boy, who I will call Omar, does not have a lot of language and sometimes I am unsure as to wheter he understands me or not. But Omar seems to have taken an instant likeing to Joe. Of all the children in our classroom it is Joe with whom he has tried to connect with, but Joe and Doug as well, seem to be very jeolous of any attention that me or my coteacher might pay on Omar when we ware not dealing with either of them. They are constantly trying to see what we are doing with Omar, even if it means they will get in trouble because they are not listening to the teacher who is leading intruction, and I feel that after we have spent time working with Omar, trying to get him to participate in our class and talking to him, both Joe and Doug seek Omar out and start to pick on him.
I really do not understand this behavior, because, both Dough and Joe are our priority, we constantly spend time with them trying to get them to do the class work we set the other children with and we always meet with Omar last because he is not constantly bothering anyone or interfering with instruction while distracting other children.
My heart breaks everytime I see Omar interacting with these two boys. I will try my best to protect Omar as much as I can but I want to make sure that I am a good teacher to all my students as well, protecting all of them and making sure that we have a safe and caring learning enviornment.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Bobby part Deux
Hi All,
Today was a very tiring day. Even though having a co-teacher helps a lot, but having 28 students in the class while thinking through things you had not thought of (like how difficult it is to fit so many students in a circle on the limited amount of rug space) and problem solving on the spot.
Not to mention that one particular child reminds me of my dear friend from my second placement at a certain charter school. Yes, I believe it feels like him part 2. He is defiant, he does all he can to push my buttons and he does not follow directions- he does the opposite of what is expected of him! I want to pull my hair out. I guess I had some unresolved issues with a particular little person because his personality, I feel, is back to haunt me. But seriously I need to keep in mind that these two little persons are different, no matter how much their mannerisms and attitudes remind me of the first little guy I encountered in my second placement. I really do not want my past experience to encounter this relationship I am establishing with this new little guy, but how can it not? I don't know how I can help this child. I don't know what new strategies to try. I feel like I really have nothing new to try.
As I reflect on this first day, I feel that you are never completely ready for the first day of school no matter how much you plan and how many back up plans you have. I made so many planning mistakes today (as in forgetting what I planned!) however I having you lesson plans handy to look at and write on is essential, and helps so much when you are trying to keep on track and remember all the activities you have dreamed up. However, it is never what you expect to go wrong that actually goes wrong. I was so scared of teaching an entire class in Spanish. I was thinking, oh my goodness, I am never going to say all the Spanish words that I need to say, I am going to teach the poor children Spanglish and they are not going to understand neither Spanish nor English.
This is going to be a very interesting year. We have an interesting bunch of children and I feel that we will have quite a bit of management issues to deal with. I was already going to make a call home for the aforementioned little person (but of course the phone number that I have is disconnected) but I feel that the issues are just beginning. Oh, the life of a teacher. :)
mucho amor,
Janet
Today was a very tiring day. Even though having a co-teacher helps a lot, but having 28 students in the class while thinking through things you had not thought of (like how difficult it is to fit so many students in a circle on the limited amount of rug space) and problem solving on the spot.
Not to mention that one particular child reminds me of my dear friend from my second placement at a certain charter school. Yes, I believe it feels like him part 2. He is defiant, he does all he can to push my buttons and he does not follow directions- he does the opposite of what is expected of him! I want to pull my hair out. I guess I had some unresolved issues with a particular little person because his personality, I feel, is back to haunt me. But seriously I need to keep in mind that these two little persons are different, no matter how much their mannerisms and attitudes remind me of the first little guy I encountered in my second placement. I really do not want my past experience to encounter this relationship I am establishing with this new little guy, but how can it not? I don't know how I can help this child. I don't know what new strategies to try. I feel like I really have nothing new to try.
As I reflect on this first day, I feel that you are never completely ready for the first day of school no matter how much you plan and how many back up plans you have. I made so many planning mistakes today (as in forgetting what I planned!) however I having you lesson plans handy to look at and write on is essential, and helps so much when you are trying to keep on track and remember all the activities you have dreamed up. However, it is never what you expect to go wrong that actually goes wrong. I was so scared of teaching an entire class in Spanish. I was thinking, oh my goodness, I am never going to say all the Spanish words that I need to say, I am going to teach the poor children Spanglish and they are not going to understand neither Spanish nor English.
This is going to be a very interesting year. We have an interesting bunch of children and I feel that we will have quite a bit of management issues to deal with. I was already going to make a call home for the aforementioned little person (but of course the phone number that I have is disconnected) but I feel that the issues are just beginning. Oh, the life of a teacher. :)
mucho amor,
Janet
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