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Reflections From My 5th Year of Teaching

Posted on June 8, 2015 by auburnchick

My fifth year of teaching is officially in the books.

Friday was the final day with students, and we teachers returned today to prep our rooms for the summer break.  Once we finished and had our checklists signed off on, we were free to go.

Being the overachiever that I am (and wanting to start my vacay early), I worked hard so I could leave as quickly as possible.

As I’ve done my previous four years, I wanted to take some time to reflect on lessons I’ve learned this year.

As I’ve said a time or two (insert sarcastic look), my year definitely had its ups and downs.

There were a LOT of changes this year…staffing, standards, and students (well, that last item is a given every year).

I do not do change well.  I need time to adapt.  Unfortunately, teachers are not afforded time.

We are like medical professionals, performing triage on a daily basis.

Adapting to change was one of the first lessons I had to learn.

I’m stubborn.

The lesson took a while to set in.

With staffing changes came new responsibilities.

I was overwhelmed and because of that, my words were sometimes less gentle than they should have been.  That can be a good and a bad thing.

I learned that sometimes being direct is the best path toward getting things done.

On the other hand, I learned that I can’t go in too harshly…I need to be sensitive to another person’s experience as well as mindset.

I need to wait for God’s words, not the words I’ve planned in my mind.

Those are lessons I can apply toward how I approach my students as well.

This year, without the constant presence of my friend, Barb, I learned that I had to speak up for myself.

In other words, I found my voice.

Oh boy, did I ever.

I used it to stand up for myself when my VAM came out.

I used my voice to raise questions, respectfully (of course) but unrelentingly, to try to get some answers.

I got answers (they didn’t make sense, except to the politicians who created them).

I also used my voice to stand up for the students I serve.

They were outraged by a new system of tests and other diagnostic measurement tools that CONSTANTLY interrupted their class time.

I spoke up for them.

Another big lesson I learned…probably the one that will save my sanity throughout the rest of my career…is how to balance work with home.

It’s one of the few positive things that came out of my erroneous VAM score.

I learned that it’s not worth taking home work stress…that I HAVE to give myself time to relax and be a non-teacher when I leave my classroom.

I limited the amount of time I worked from home, allowing myself one night a week…two max…to lesson plan.

I quit grading assignments at home and left that to my planning period, and I gave myself permission to say no to a fake, self-righteous guilty conscience that tried to berate me for not providing feedback the day after assignments were due.

My students understood.  They still got their results rather quickly…just not always within twenty-four hours.

It didn’t hurt them, and it actually helped me.

With the good lessons come the bad.

Well, not really bad but an awareness of things I really need to focus on improving.

One of the biggest areas of my teaching involves classroom rapport.

I’d been marked down a little bit in that one area during my observation, and it gave me pause to think…and reflect when certain situations happened in my classroom later in the year.

I kept wondering what I’d done differently from the year before…why there was some negativity flowing between various students, thus bringing down the supportive feel of a couple of my classes.

One thing I know I didn’t do as well was incorporate as many team building activities into our routine (as I’ve done in previous years).  I won’t make this mistake again.

I am looking for ways to create empathy among my students.  Despite the loss of a student in one of my classes (this class actually bonded tightly…the problems were mainly in my other classes), some students still had trouble digging up sensitivity for their classmates.

I’ll be working on mini-lessons to help with this.

I think of all things I can work on, the above will probably have the greatest impact on my students and their learning.

Oh sure, I know I need to work on everything but creating a supportive classroom…one in which students are respectful and accepting of one another…is at the top of my list.

Saying goodbye to my students wasn’t as hard this year.

I loved them to bits, that’s for sure, but I was ready for a break to step away and relax so I can return in August as a teacher who is refreshed and ready to offer my best to a new group of students.

I’m well on my way, even after one afternoon on break…

 

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

Advice…Student-to-Student

Posted on June 2, 2015 by auburnchick

On Monday, when my students entered my class, they were greeted with the following assignment:

Write a letter to Mrs. Auburnchick’s future students advising them of things they should know to be successful in the class.

Students were warned not to use the letter as a gripe session.  They were to be sensitive to my feelings because I would be reading and grading the letters.  🙂

I wanted to share a few excerpts…some made me chuckle…others made me tear up.

Please click on the photos to make them bigger.

The following student really knows how to make the kids feel good about getting placed in my class.  Maybe they should invest in some band aids?

The next student explains that all of my degrees on the wall are all the justification I need to not have to tolerate the use of cell phones.  😀

The next student obviously understood the figurative language unit I taught (love the owl simile).  She warns against the use of foul language…especially the word “thot.”  Don’t know what it means?  Visit Urban Dictionary.  Please note that the student wouldn’t even spell it out.  Ask me how many points I deducted from the class because someone used this word.

The next student reiterates what the previous student said.  Please note that students did not compare notes or copy each other as they wrote.  It was one of the quietest times that my classes had all year…they took this assignment quite seriously.

For the record, I didn’t write up students for cursing.  If I did that, I wouldn’t have many students left to teach.  I only consider cursing a write-up if a student uses the colorful language directly to my face, in a “I’m-going-to-give-you-another-name” kind of way.  🙂

The next student’s words made my nerdy teacher heart sing with joy.

The first day of school, most of my kids walk into my classroom 1) resentful that they are in Intensive Reading and 2) adamant that they don’t like to and won’t read.

99.9% of them walk out the final day of school with changed hearts as far as books go.  This student’s words confirm this.

This last student’s words make me smile in more ways than one.

Just this afternoon, as we were watching our class movie, made from the hundreds of photos I’d taken of the kids all year, she told me that she had told her mom about the vegan cupcakes I’d baked for them and how delicious they had been.

This girl sounds like Minnie Mouse…such an endearing voice with a precious laugh and sweet spirit.  She’s promised to come visit me next school year.  Her words back up her feelings.

The last week of school is filled with so many bittersweet moments.  They make it difficult to say goodbye.

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

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