Real Teacher: First Three Weeks

I can't believe it's already been 3 whole weeks of teaching. Well, not really three weeks because we didn't have school on Monday for two weeks, but I'm still counting it as three weeks. It seems like it hasn't been that long but also seems like it's been longer at the same time. It's so crazy to think that I'm a real teacher now and that I've been able to survive the beginning of a school year. 

The year so far has been really great. I'm so glad that I enjoy what I do. The teachers around me and in my department are amazing. They are always looking out for me and helping me make sure I'm ready for whatever is coming. They are a bunch of great teachers that really enjoy teaching and that helps me enjoy teaching as well. The kids I teach are really great as well. There are a few kids that just make me wonder what they are thinking but I've been in their shoes before, so I can imagine what they must be going through. Hopefully as the year progresses, we all come to an understanding of how to work with each other and how to help each other. 

I've finally come up with some kind of routine to keep the day flowing and to make sure we get through what needs to be done and give them time to work on their assignment before class is over. I've even tried mixing up the activities to make sure we're not doing the same thing everyday. One time I even did an activity on iPad's and that was an interesting experiences. I did it on a Friday when my classes are shorter and it took us half the class period just to get started and figure out how to get on to the webpage I wanted them to go to. But it was a great experience. Hopefully they enjoyed the difference. Maybe I'll try it again some day when we have a little more time. 

As far as my classes go, I'm teaching two different kinds of classes (three of each): Math 8 Honors and Math 8. The honors kids are great. They really now how to get down to business and work so quietly on their assignments that it almost surprises me when they do. When I ask them to work together, they don't quite know how to talk to each other and still work on their own till I prompt them multiple times to talk to each other. My regular kids are great as well and just keep me laughing. They are so great and I love it when they try. I'm not quite sure how they all feel about math right now but I hope they are enjoying it just a little or at least not dreading it, I guess. They just love to talk to each other and work together, so different from the honors kids. All together, I really like my students and they are really pretty good kids. I love their random questions and comments. These kids are really great to work with.

Teaching so far has really been great, even if I get what one of the other teachers calls the "teacher headache" everyday. I'm really worn out each day but I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. I don't really mind the headache so much because it tells me that I worked hard that day and I don't want to know what it would mean if I didn't work hard everyday.  Hopefully the coming weeks are even better than these past weeks. 


This is a video I shared with my students the first day of class and something I hope doesn't happen too often in my class. :)