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Okay, well, if you are familiar with my usual posts, you know I was working in what was maybe a challenging environment, a youth center where kids with all kinds of problems were sent for various reasons, criminal and non-criminal.
I got out of that environment. For the past few months I've been working at a wonderful school with great kids, and it's really put things into perspective for me and made me think I can actually do the job, maybe, but I am still having potentially serious problems of a different sort.
I have no pacing guide and frequently have very little idea where to go with my lessons, what to plan for, or what to teach. There is a "scope and sequence" with the objectives I'm supposed to cover for a given six-week term, but it's just a list of numbers of the objectives I'm supposed to cover; it's too open-ended for me. I'm confused. The last place I worked had a curriculum that was so scripted that I pretty much just showed up and handed out activities and worksheets for when the kids got bored. Actually having to plan my own lessons is a change that I'm not sure I'm ready for. I'm confused about how everything is supposed to fit together. For example, if I'm teaching or reviewing a story, what objectives am I covering exactly? What am I supposed to be focusing on?
I was also evaluated recently, and I was marked "unsatisfactory" in the area of student engagement. I'm just frustrated at this point. I've tried to feel my way through and act like I know what I'm doing, because I feel like my coworkers think I should have learned everything I don't know in college already. I've been pointed to paid online resources, like teachers pay teachers, and I just do not know what to do when I look at that long list of objectives that I need to cover.
I seriously wonder how they expect me to take that and turn it into a set of perfectly paced lessons and activities for kids to follow! I'm sorry, but I'm so frustrated that sometimes I feel like crying, and it has nothing at all to do with the kids this time; it's my inability to understand something that is apparently obvious to everyone else.
If you have suggestions for me, I would like to hear them.
Don't try so hard to fit the "model" you've been given. Instead, do the opposite: do what you feel is best and have the model fit that. Trust me, it'll work. I worked in prisons for years before teaching K-12. It's all about interpretation. Or in this case, RE-interpretation.
Based on your history in nontraditional tough settings, where you probably did exactly what I suggested on a daily basis, you should do fine.
That's your strength. Stick with that model that's always worked for you. Be yourself.
Other members of your department to ask? Department chair? Even other teachers not in your department? Instructional Coordinator? I can't believe I'm even going to say an Administrator.
Don't try so hard to fit the "model" you've been given. Instead, do the opposite: do what you feel is best and have the model fit that. Trust me, it'll work. I worked in prisons for years before teaching K-12. It's all about interpretation. Or in this case, RE-interpretation.
Based on your history in nontraditional tough settings, where you probably did exactly what I suggested on a daily basis, you should do fine.
That's your strength. Stick with that model that's always worked for you. Be yourself.
Okay, but I'm really not that good at inventing my own "structure." I didn't really have to worry about that at the youth center.
I guess maybe I might get better results if I ask about specifics.
How would you teach a unit about persuasive writing? It's seventh grade. I've been having them do a little persuasive writing all along, but we haven't really discussed the criteria on which they will be graded. To be honest, I'm still not comfortable using the rubric to grade them.
I think my approach would be to take a good essay and have them dissect it into its component parts in a teacher led lesson. That's probably not "engaging" enough for this age group, though. What would you suggest?
Other members of your department to ask? Department chair? Even other teachers not in your department? Instructional Coordinator? I can't believe I'm even going to say an Administrator.
I'm a little afraid to approach my principal (it's not that she hasn't been helpful; I'm just worried that she won't see why I'm having so much trouble), but I might try bugging the department chair again. The sixth grade teacher is who I usually confer with, but she usually steers me toward paid sites. I'm not against paying for help, but I feel like I need to be familiar with the product before I feel comfortable using it.
I'm a little afraid to approach my principal (it's not that she hasn't been helpful; I'm just worried that she won't see why I'm having so much trouble), but I might try bugging the department chair again. The sixth grade teacher is who I usually confer with, but she usually steers me toward paid sites. I'm not against paying for help, but I feel like I need to be familiar with the product before I feel comfortable using it.
That's why I hesitated about Administration. If you go to them they will, in many cases, consider you a problem.
What teacher recommends pay sites? Teachers are the Kings and Queens of finding free stuff.
That's why I hesitated about Administration. If you go to them they will, in many cases, consider you a problem.
What teacher recommends pay sites? Teachers are the Kings and Queens of finding free stuff.
Ever heard of Teachers Pay Teachers? I think she may be a seller or something, because she talks about it a lot.
I'm also a little confused about classroom management. I started off using call-and-response WBT strategies, but I stopped after a teacher on my hall led me to believe that I might have issues if I do too much "extra stuff." I didn't really know what she meant, but I stopped, because I wanted to show her that I was willing to take her advice. She's an experienced teacher, so she should know. I didn't have anything to replace it with, however, so things gradually started to degenerate.
I started writing kids up to regain control, but that seems to have just caused more rebellion. Plus, I got an "unsatisfactory" in the area of classroom management. Even though my kids were well behaved when the principal observed me, not all of them were on task.
TPT isn't bad, though. I'm just not happy to be pointed there whenever I want to learn how to teach something. It would be nice for someone just to do a courtesy and not charge me.
It looks like I'm going to have to pay for some things, though. I think I really lost the students' trust somehow. I started out with fun and games, WBT, call-and-response, and then I just dropped it, became almost mechanical and resorted to trying to teach from the textbook. I could have done more had I had some real help, but I guess they thought I was asking for too much?
Anyway, for classroom management, I was steered toward Harry Wong. I would be okay with that, but is there anywhere I can learn his system without paying $500 plus or having to wait two months?
_-
One thing I wish they would have taught me in college is that I'm not going to be able to just ask for help every time I don't understand something in the working world. I have to have skills to find my own solutions. Even though I'm an adept internet user, I have trouble thinking through and solving my own problems sometimes and will instead do the same thing that is not bringing positive results because I feel like I don't know what changes to make.
_-
Anyway, let me ask again. Does anyone have any suggestions for teaching a unit on persuasive writing to kids with varying skill levels?
Does anyone know of any classroom management strategies that would put the kids "back on my side" while weeding out the troublemakers?
Sounds like you took some bad advice... Just because someone is experienced doesn't mean you need to listen.
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