Confessions from the Couch

Mmmmm . . .

For the past week, a typical day has looked like this:

Get up at 4 am
Take a shower to wake up. Get dressed.
Study/plan for my AP class.
Leave for school at 630
Teach all day. Planning period every other day. Some days there are no breaks for me except for lunch, which isn’t until 12:15. Because the scheduling was so bad this year, I have leave my students alone so I can make a run for the “facilities”.
Stay at school until 4 PM or 5 PM to help students with projects, tutor, discuss progress.
Arrive home around 530 PM. Gather dinner, dibble dabble on facebook, chat with a friend or two for minute, watch a little TV
Sleep at 7 PM - 8PM

I haven’t blogged or thought about reading blogs at all until yesterday. I don’t have time and when I get home I am absolutely too wiped out to comprehend what anyone is saying. One of my status messages this week read: ” I feel like a first year teacher.” Its true. . . none of my lessons are exciting or fun or blogworthy. I haven’t even kept up my classroom site. The librarian asked me about blogging . . . I just thought, when is there ever any time? She has time b/c she doesn’t have to teach 7 classes. . .my bad, I said I wasn’t going complain.

I’m supposed to be coordinating the Black History Month activities at my school. Only thing I have done: contacted an organization about a guest speaker. Besides that, zip, zap, zilch!

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Someone asked to see a picture of my new hairdo. It takes some getting used to, but I’m like it more and more everyday. And I love the fact that I’m not put chemicals on my scalp that could hurt me in the future.

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I am struggling at school to diversify instruction this year with my AP kids. Yesterday, I was lecturing and I know it was terrible b/c I could see the looks on their faces. It was absolutely HORRIBLE. K suggested taking more of a discussion approach. I’m going to try that next week. Here is how I plan to structure it.

Pose a question.
Students discuss answers to the question.
Guide students to the correct answer based on the reading.
Provide with structured notes at the end of each question via PPT.

I’ve never tried this approach before, but I’ve never lectured this much before. My kids in the past were always doing something, creating something. . . but, i feel like there is soooo much content to cover along with AP writing skills. Thanks, K for the ideas. A totally new learning experience for me. Hopefully, this will help my students. But it means more time prepping.

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My personal life is in the dumps. My friendship with my BFF has ended. Long story short, I made plans with her and then canceled her at the last minute to go do something else with someone else. Never told her why I canceled. However, I posted the pictures on facebook. Didn’t think anything of it b/c it was me hanging out with friends. Apparently, this makes me a bad friend. BFF was angry. I didn’t think it was a big deal b/c my plans with her were never solid–It was like “oooh, lets do something tomorrow,” my response, “ok, yeah”. So, when this other thing came up I went for it. She has done it to me. She has stood me up b/c she was shopping for make-up, but my canceling was the last straw in the hat. It feels like high school all over again.

I want out of the friggin city. I need a new start.

Teaching Strategies, a personal life? | Miss Teacha | October 31, 2009 6:05 am

5 Comments

By David Fordee, October 31, 2009 @ 8:08 am

One of the strategies that I use and that is super easy to do is what I call “TPS Reports” (I get the name from the movie Office Space http://bit.ly/XYoIR ). I use it for short for “Think-Pair-Share.” I pose a question or have the students think or brainstorm on something on their own. Then I tell them to partner with someone seated close to them. Then they discuss the same question. The different slant is where I ask them to “report” only on the things that their partner said.

Doing TPS reports is hard for kids because they have a terrible time listening. But, when it’s done well, I love it because if someone has something brilliant to say, but they are too shy to say it, it comes out. And they don’t have to be the one to verbalize it – another student or friend does.

I walk around with my coffee cup and say, “How’s it going???” while they discuss. The one or two kids who have seen office space get it. I might have to play a clip from the movie just to explain the joke someday.

I also use index cards with the kids names on the front and info about them on the back. I’ll pull the cards to have kids answer questions. It’s nice and random and I hear from some kids that I don’t normally do.

Hang in there, teaching multiple preps, AP, and having one planning period is enough to kill most people. But, I think you are probably doing far better than you think. When we are tired it just seems like we do a terrible job. For me, the german saying, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all” is on the mark.

Thanksgiving is coming.
By Margaret, October 31, 2009 @ 10:51 am

You are exhausted(what a schedule) and stressed; I think a new start is what is called for. Try not to be too hard on yourself–re-read this description of your day periodically to remind yourself that you’re doing the BEST that anyone can do!!
By Frumteacher, November 3, 2009 @ 1:54 pm

LOVE THA HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, your schedule is insane. 4 AM? How can you even sit straight? Why do you have to wake up so early? Is there any way you can save yourself time in the morning? Shower in the evening? Prepare lunch and clothes the day before?

I feel like toast, too (that’s the anti spam word I had to type . Work takes a big toll on me and then there’s the full time care of Frumdaughter, which is great but exhausting. Whenever I go to bed after 9PM I feel whiped out. Sigh. I hope we’ll find a way to share like in the good old days.
By HappyChyck, November 3, 2009 @ 5:38 pm

Exhausting. Wish I had words of wisdom. I’d like to say that you should have rested more over the summer, but then I’d probably retort that you wouldn’t be in this situation had you worked even harder.

In general, this workin’ gig’s a drag.
By Nancy, November 6, 2009 @ 7:57 pm

You could let the kids ‘own’ the material. Several ideas:
Have them generate the questions.
I also read a neat idea for literature but it would work in a content area too–it’s the resident expert program….look through the text for the week and come up with as many ideas, concepts, topics etc. write them down on cards and pass them out, let the kids research their topic (just a paragraph or two) and then when it comes up in the reading or lecturing, you call on them and they tell what they know for a minute or two..