I officially feel bad for all of my high school teachers

Teaching. It’s definitely not as easy as I would have thought. With that being said, I didn’t get a whole lot of “teaching” done the first week of school.  Come to find out I have two proficient Algebra I classes, one mainstream Algebra I with 9^th, 10^th, 11^th and 12^th graders, one mainstream Algebra I with freshmen and one geometry with 10^th, 11^th and 12^th graders. We had an assembly on Monday and a minimum day so classes were about 20 minutes each.  Twenty minutes was pretty much enough time to get names and contact info. That’s all.

The names were probably the hardest part about my first day. My longest is something like 15 letters. I’m so so thankful for nicknames although some students are adamant about being called their full names. I’m working on it.

Aside from the names, classroom management is going to be tough in 2 or 3 of my classes. I have VERY full classes (25-28 students) and it’s quite the challenge to get them all on task and quiet. On Tuesday I went over Mrs. Chelsia’s classroom rules and my consequences. This got most of my students behaving a lot better. I’m really trying not to smile too much and to be on the tougher side these first few weeks. They say it’ll really help with management in the long run but boy is it difficult for me to act like a crazed authoritarian.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent giving assessments to my students. The difference in comprehension, even among the same grade level, is insane.  It’s going to be a huge challenge trying to help kids comprehend basic math and to challenge the students who already understand when they’re in the same class. I’m going to have to get creative with bridging this gap.

We had a long weekend (Friday-Monday), which was SO appreciated after our first week. We got caught up on our cleaning, went to town and got McDonald’s, went into town again and hiked Blunt’s Point, read a whole lot and spent some much needed time relaxing. While it doesn’t sound eventful, it was pretty much the perfect weekend.

Week 2 begins today (Tuesday) and I’m hoping to actually get some teaching done. I’ll be working on basic skills for about a month with all of my classes. I don’t really see the point in jumping on to new material when most of my students have trouble with addition, subtraction etc.

Other fun facts:

The kids here are definitely super cheeky! Saul got asked if he was “going out with me on Thursday” by one of his students.

Today one of my students asked if my husband calls me his seniorita (he was dead serious) because he's half Mexican. lol

I'm a senior class advisor for rallies etc.

All this walking we're doing is getting me in shape :) (yesssss!)

I lost my keys for the first time in my life (booooooooo.) and have been incessantly bothering our principal to lock/unlock my room every morning and afternoon.

One of my freshman students said that the trash can was Blake Griffin and then proceeded to walk over drop his trash in and say that he's Tim Duncan dunking on BG. Love it! :)

I love the cafeteria lunches. Can anyone say free food? It's like mine and Saul's dream place.


-C