Books to Read

One thing that this year of teaching has done for me is that it has really helped me with my classroom management skills. I was ok during student teaching, but I was nervous, insecure, afraid of alienating the students... the list goes on. As a sub, or guest teacher, you can't afford to have weak classroom management skills. It makes your day exhausting.

I am big on studying a problem to death when faced with one. Mine this past year was, ' How on Earth am I going to do this?'

I read a TON of books. The two I found my helpful were " Substitute teaching from A to Z' By Barbara Pressman and

Setting Limits in the Classroom: How to move beyond the Dance of Discipline in Today's Classroom by Robert Mackenzie

Solo Teaching

I have been teaching almost the whole day for a couple of weeks, but I have had my master teacher there. This week is the first time that she has left for significant period's of time. Wow! It is both invigorating and exhausting! I thought I was getting better at the classroom management stuff, but it seems like I am back to square one by myself. They were really pushing buttons today. I feel like I am becoming a grumpy ole meany.

I just read about a new technique in "Tools for Teaching" by Fred Jones. I think of it as the look. You stop, turn your head, then your shoulders, your lower body and lastly your feet. Then you just look at the offending culprit. The trick is to do it very slowly. Take a deep breathe, so you don't tense up,or say anything. It did work, but it took a long time before they realized I was looking at them.

I will let you know if it works long term, or if it is one that fades with over use.

Classes done --student teaching here I come

I am finally done with all my classes. I have to admit to having learned so much this past year. It is hard to believe it has only been a year since I started this program. It is amazing to look back at how naive I was when I started this program. I thought I already had all the knowledge and experience I needed to be able to teach. I thought I could go in and change the world, change the future of children everywhere, become a super teacher straight out of the chute. I now realize how silly I was, how much harder it will be to change one small child, let alone the world.

I have grown a great deal this year, and think I will grow as much in the next three months of student teaching as I have grown the past year in course work.

There are certain areas that I can already tell I need to really focus on. The first is classroom management. In a class with 17 - 2nd grade boys, and only 5 girls, classroom management is a big issue. They are already testing me a bit. I have been experimenting to find a method that works for me.

Techniques I have tried

1. Clapping -The clapping thing doesn't feel comfortable to me.
2. Holding up fingers - The holding up my fingers and waiting for the kids to notice -- well , let's just say I am not patient enough for that.
3. Turning lights out - This works well, but I don't want to have to walk all the way across the room all the time to get their attention.
4. Ringing Bell - Again, this works but I have to walk over to the bell.
5. " Give me five" - I thought this was working all right. I raise my hand, say " give me five" - meaning eyes on me, voices off, ears listening, hands still, feet still-- the kids raise their hand and look at me. However, my MT isn't so sure this is working. She brought me in a bell of my own, like hers. I will have to evaluate this further.

I guess I will need to come up with some more ideas to try.