AuburnChick's Adventures

Technically, I’m in my eighth year of teaching; however, I feel as though the picture on the right side is pretty accurate despite the caption of it being a third-year teacher . . .

Y’all, teaching is not for the faint of heart, that’s for sure!

I know that I haven’t been very consistent with the blogging, but can you blame me?

This year, I am teaching six classes . . . forty-seven minutes of fun, most times (sometimes, I’ll admit, not so much).

To date, I have about 150 students.  This is down from the 180 I started out with.

Go ahead and gasp.  I did when I saw my rosters before school started in August.

This year, I am tasked with helping juniors and seniors pass either the FSA (Florida Standards Assessment) or the reading portion of the SAT or ACT.

It’s been a bit stressful, getting the hang of a new prep; however, I work with another teacher who’s been prepping students for these tests for a few years now.

There’s lots of copying . . .

Thank heavens for paraprofessionals!  These test prep packets are thick; many trees were harmed in the printing of this classwork.

Ahem.

There’s a lot of Smartboard work . . .

Is it any wonder that Friday afternoons find me like this . . .

I usually come home for a couple of hours, rest up, and then head back out for another three hours so I can cheer on my guys as they hit the gridiron . . .

After spending over sixteen hours on my feet, my ankle looks like this . . .

It’s all I can do to crawl into my recliner, apply STEM treatment, and ice down . . .

Although it sounds like I’m complaining, I’m really not.

I’m pretty happy thus far this year.  Most of my students (especially my juniors) are extremely motivated and pretty cooperative.  If they pass one of the tests I listed above, they have been promised schedule changes.  More importantly, they can check another box off of the list of graduation requirements.

As proof that my kids are working . . .

That’s my cell phone holder which, at the beginning of the year, was filled with pencils.  I ordered more from Amazon, and do you know that I already have several pencils missing.  This is not cool.

I have quite a few of the same students I taught last year, which has, for the most part, been a good thing.  The time I spent cultivating relationships has already yielded some positives.

Take, for instance, one of my assertive young ladies.  She grew to love reading last year, and it didn’t take her long this year to start checking books out of my classroom library.  Today, I watched as she added a book to a list she keeps in a notebook.  I only allow one book to be checked out at a time.  It’s too easy to lose track of them otherwise.  She didn’t want to forget the title, so she wrote it down . . . just as she did last year.

Oh my heart!

❤

Although I’m extremely tough on things like tardies and dress code, I believe that my consistency is paying off.  Students in my largest classes are rarely tardy any more.  They know they’ll be held accountable, because Mrs. Auburnchick does not play.

So, if you wonder what I’m doing in between my blogging gaps, just know that I’m probably cat napping . . . in my recliner . . . with my Harry Potter blanket covering me . . . dreaming of, well, nothing much because I’m just too exhausted to do even that.

Ok . . . so maybe I’m playing with the fun filters on Snapchat . . . right before dropping off into a brief nap or two.

Ahem.

Is it Christmas vacation yet?

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: teaching |