Sunday, September 19, 2010

Is Ms. Jones Fair?


Last Friday I posed this question to all of my classes as their warmup.  The results were not really surprising or unexpected.  Quick rundown:
-       Majority say I am unfair à no shock there!
-       The question stated why and most said because she gives check marks à again no shock and I am sorry nothing is going to change either because check marks are necessary.
-       The good kids said I was fair

When I put up the transparency it was so funny.  I had kids who REFUSE to do work writing! Everyone can write when it’s criticizing the teacher, but no one can COPY notes. I had kids saying,  “A few sentences? Man I can write an essay!”  I just laughed and said, “You may write as much as you want in the time given.”

I did like this exercise.  I think it gave the students a chance to voice their opinions.  Whether valid or not, it makes them feel like the teacher is listening to them.  I also got some great feed back.

Although I said I was not shocked by most of the responses, there were several that stuck out:
1.     One student in my fourth block who had a major attitude problem with me but has recently been showing me as much respect as she would her mother or grandmother.
“Ms Jones she is okay..She is fair cause she allowed me 2 pull up my grade and I just want to tank you so much..I really didn’t like you at first but know you are a very cool person but thank you again Ms. Jones.”
2.     A student who I want to help desperately but needs me by his side the entire class.
“No she isn’t fair cause I don’t get that much help so I just sit here and fall asleep.”
3.      Anonymous
“No. You always write checks. Never get nothings done. Don’t let us sit anywhere. Just aint right.”
4.      A lovely (black) girl who just misses too much school
“Yes she is because she teaches very great. It’s just that the kids do not want to listen.  And I feel that that is not her fault it’s the students fault.  In my 4th block I cant get my lesson cause the kids wont shut up and be quiet. To me she’s fair. We just have a load of ignorant black children in our 4th block class.

I plan to make a slideshow for class Monday and at the very end have a couple slides where I pull out some of the responses.  I want the students to see that I read what they had to say and perhaps we can discuss things as long as the conversation doesn’t get out of control.

What I have taken from this exercise:
-       The kids did point out my inconsistency in giving check marks.  I know I need to be fair and everyone who breaks a rule gets in trouble.
-       I also do realize that I need to get around to everyone, but this is a balancing act and requires them to change their behavior ie. the reason I can’t make it around to everyone is because I have to stop and deal with behavior issues constantly.
-       Some students don’t understand why they get a check mark.  I need to be more clear either with my rules and expectations or more clear when I am actually giving a check mark.


My Biggest Challenge?


Waking up in the morning! Ha.  Well in some ways this is true.  Waking up each morning after a bad day is hard, but I think this is really covering up a larger issue that I am dealing with – a very monotonous schedule.  This is my first full-time job.  Up until now, I have been in school myself.  My day-to-day life was very flexible.  But now I do the same thing each and every day and it all revolves around school.  Yes I try and give myself Saturdays off, but you can’t help the random thoughts about school.  I have even started dreaming about school!  It’s so consuming and sort of boring? The actual job isn’t boring, but the routine is.  I can’t be as spontaneous as I would like.

Monotony has been a personal struggle.  Thinking about my struggles in the classroom is a whole other bag of chips.  A quick list may work better:
-       By the end of the day, I am exhausted, the kids are exhausted and everyone is acting up ten times worse than I imagine they would if I had them in the morning and to make matters worse my room is hot and smelly from a long day.  I really struggle with treating my 4th block fairly. I tend to get short with them.  I know they are tired but what they fail to understand is that I am too!! I stand all day and I have to be in that room all day.  If everyone would just shut-up then a) there wouldn’t be so much hot air in the room b) I wouldn’t waste so much time disciplining and I could help you more and c) I would be happier and less mean. So there is definitely room for improvement on everyone’s behalf during 4th block.
-       Of course classroom management needs to be improved…basically I need to be more consistent on consequences.   EVERYONE who stands gets a check not just every third person.
-       Third block using the bathroom!  Here is the situation.  At the beginning of the year we went to the bathroom post lunch.  The little rascals decided they wanted to lock themselves in the bathroom and start banging on the doors and making a ruckus. Silly them – I took away bathroom privileges.  So some __(adjective)__  girls decided to complain to the assistant principal about this and they told I must allow them to go to the bathroom after lunch.  After telling them how my class acted when they were given that privilege, they said okay let them go 2 at a time.  FABULOUS – now I get to have children in and out of my room for 45 min.  That’s not disturbing at all!!! So now I say that you can go during independent work only.  Its still a mess because then kids complain about not having enough time for the work.  Moving on to the next challenge…
-       Getting kids to make connections.  For instance, you going to the bathroom when you don’t have to = less time for your work in the classroom.  What about: if everyone would follow directions, Ms. Jones wouldn’t have to spend so much time giving check marks.  Or here is an excellent one: YOUR BEHAVIOR IN CLASS EFFECTS YOUR GRADE. 

I think just about every single “challenge” I am currently facing is something any first year teacher would face no matter what kind of school district they were in.  I am struggling with things, but I suppose I must also point out that there have been improvements from Aug 4th…thank goodness!