My week...

Ok...so here goes my week!

Well, there is always so much to tell. So, Nicole's job is safe. They are not touching the PE department thankfully. What a relief to say the least. However, nothing is changing with the other teachers. We were going to offer three sports, one teacher teaching each, and letting the kids choose which one they wanted to do. it didn't work out at all. So instead we are doing three two week units of each sport. So, we are doing golf now, as you know. We were a little unsure of these kids with clubs. We knew and know we had to be on top of them. Day 1s are really frustrating and exhausting days. Nicole got observed in the Health class the other day by the person from DCPS. I think it went pretty well. I have stayed after school every day for an hour or two to plan and get stuff done with Nicole. We work on grades and organizing the classes. We plan and talk about how we can improve or how do we want to approach things. Neither one of us want to give up on the kids but they are taking so much energy and time away from other kids. We have two or three students in the health class that are totally disrespectful. One only makes it about 15 minutes into class before he either leaves or gets kicked out. It is amazing how one or two kids can set the tone of the entire class. I got to school this morning and Nicole wanted me to teach the main lesson for health. I have been coming up with the warm-ups for the health class. So, we had an incident in health, I kicked a kid out of class and then a camera was stolen. So, I was left alone in the class for some time. This was technically my first real experience in a classroom teaching. I actually really liked it. I did not cut the kids any slack. I moved two kids away from their friends because I had to ask them to be quiet too much. I got the kids to be quiet and listen. They all participated quiet a bit, even kids I woudl have never expected would volunteer to read. We had some discussions that the kids had some really good insights. Yet again, lots coming from kids that I wouldn't have anticipated participating. It was great. Nicole was in and out of the room the entire time but she was surprised and pleased with what she saw. She really liked how they were participating, engaged and well behaved. The lesson didn't last long enough, more should have been planned. I tried to drag it out and assign them to do a few more things but you can only do so much. I feel confidant infront of the classroom. It didn't bother me, intimidate me, or make me nervous at all. I have had enough teachign experiences through church that I am totally secure in front of a group of people. I am also not afraid of silence or disciplining. I know there are things as far as classroom management goes that I need to learn and improve but I am actually just glad to be having this experience. It is so different in the classroom.

As far as PE goes. We are taking a little different approach. We have a couple classes that are uncontrollable we feel. So, we are dividing the class up into two. Nicole is taking half and I am taking the other half. That way we can separate the trouble makers from their friends and be tamer. IT worked for the most part. Using golf clubs is very nerve wracking. It went fairly smoothly. Kids are starting to see me as a teacher adn that I mean business. I don't think they anticipated that from me. Sometimes it is frustrating feeling like you have nothing to hang over the kid's head. They don' tcare about anything so there is no consequence or punishment that bothers them. I am calling every kid out every time they swear and it is decreasing the amount of times that I hear swear words. Nicole and I work as a good team. We are getting to know each other and how the other one works and functions. I feel like we are building a good team. We are finally catching up and starting to be on top of things after all of the changes that have been made on us daily.

Ms. Oates wants me to talk to the AD to get hired on as the track adn softball coach. She wants to talk to the administration about possibly hiring me on come December as a permanent sub, aid, or eventually as a full time staff. She thinks the coaching positions would help me get the job in the long run.

So yeah, to sum up the week...fight, being cussed at, students using their physical bodies to intimidate me, being disrespected, not listened to, etc. , teachign golf, teaching health, Nicole being sick, me getting sick, being evaluated, staying late after school to work...who knows what else.