"Teachers get summers off, they are working
until 3:00 and then they get to go home to their children, all the while
collecting benefits. They have got it made those teachers."
All arguments my dad made to me when I was 17 years old picking a forever
career to apply to college for. While he had a point, I didn't really
care about that stuff, it was nice, but not what made me decide to do it.
I wanted to make a difference. I was a great student. I never
struggled in school. My parents supported my many adventures and whims.
I knew that I was going to be able to teach school that it would be easy.
What a shock when I arrived at Gilbert Elementary in Augusta, ME as a
long term substitute.
The teacher had left mid year to take another position
in the district. The principal warned me of the difficulty of the student
combinations in the classroom. The previous teachers words, "Good
luck," with a snide tone haunted my dreams the week approaching the day I
would finally have my very own classroom. To say that I had mixed emotions is an understatement.
Overlooking the playground my
first day on duty, I was in shock as I watched a girl playing jumprope with her
friends. She had a lip ring and was about to be in my fifth grade
classroom. Early on, the practice fire drill started a brawl in the back of my
classroom. The tension and hostility between students was such that
moving 5 feet to the back of a classroom was a challenge for them. On another occasion, one
student refused work and crawled under the front table. A
student held up the sign saying, "We want Miss ___ back!" I was
in over my head. Under prepared, emotionally, and physically exhausted so I
called my dad crying. I didn't think I would ever teach another year.
He did not remind me of the summers off, or of the benefits, or that I
would get out at 3:oo, what he did was remind me why I started teaching.
I wanted to make a difference.
In order to do that, holding high
expectations was key, and never backing down. I did a lot of
collaborating that first half year, as well as taking advantage of every possible
professional development there was. I got together with a fourth grade teacher and she gave me the best behavior plan which reminds me of the principals Kiran Bir Sethi talks about in her TED talk. She gave me 6 guiding behaviors to encourage students to say, "i can". Self directed learning, collaborative working, involved citizen, effective communicator, quality producer, and versatile thinker. Those simple 6 behavior principals paired with positive reinforcement I learned from the book, "Teach like a Champion" made the students empowered to say, "i can". When the students were done testing
me, and were able to trust that I wasn't going away, we were able to finish the
year with great successes. Misconceptions exist about teaching, and
therefore it is easy to blame teachers for the struggles of schools.
As a side note: Another connection I had to Kiran Bir Sethi's TED talk happened this year. Three of my students were having trouble making friends, and getting homework done. They were more attracted to negative attention than positive. Perhaps confused about what the difference between positive and negative attention looked like. The students who were doing homework and exerting positive behaviors confessed to me in the mornings that they loved positive attention. They got to go up in front of the class and say, "I am ____ and I love positive attention." Just doing that simple thing, convinced 2/3 to start bringing in their homework, and look for ways to attract better attention. They started to realize that they could do it!
I love your first year teacher story. I took over a classroom a few months into the school year as well, and those first few days were pretty eye opening. The other teachers had hand picked who would be in my class, so we had quite a group. I still remember sitting at my desk after the first day and thinking, "what have I got myself into?" But from there it got easier and just like you, I relied on other more experienced teachers for advice.
ReplyDeleteA big part of turning things around though was establishing relationships with the students and then holding them accountable with everything they did. Once expectations were set I could focus more on getting the best out of them and giving them more freedom with their work.
I'm glad to see that I am not the only one that had a horrible first year. I had a student crawl out of the window and then get locked out of the school. Luckily, his mother worked across the street at the superintendent's office and I didn't have problems after that.
ReplyDeleteWhen we are in college, we aren't taught how to handle difficult students, we learn that by diving in, learning from others, and gaining experience. Also, I think that if you feel comfortable in a school district, that helps a lot also. One school I was at, no one talked amongst themselves to help each other out. I felt like the odd man out because I wasn't from their hometown. I didn't get support from the teachers or even the principal. Now, I am at a school that we get appreciated for what we do and we collaborate with each other all the time. It helps you feel more confident in what you do.
I think interacting with the students is what makes me most nervous about teaching. The only interactions I have had with high school students has been as a mentor at JAX. These students are there because they want to be there and because they have a serious interest in scientific research. I can only tell myself that every teachers goes through it and so will I.
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