Monday, Monday

Right now, my sole need with my job is that of survival. I'm merely trying to survive right now, and little else. Are the kids learning? Are the standards being taught? How effective are my teaching strategies? These questions, for the moment, are all secondary to this one: Can I make it through the day? The next day? That's it. Yesterday (Sunday), a friend helped me in the classroom for nearly 6 hours. After just helping me move desks and grade papers, he remarked, "Wow, I will never be an elementary school teacher." Intrigued, I asked, "Why not?" He replied, "It's too tedious! There's too much work." I agreed, adding that the work is never done, either. There's always something else to be done. Anyway...

A run down of today:

6:45am- made an example class project while eating breakfast, ended up with no time to pack a lunch, so I had to buy yet another school lunch

7:45am- at school, turned in request to principal for an aide to help in the classroom. Was promptly told that there isn't enough money (which I don't believe), but that parent volunteers may be available. Ha.

8:15am- picked up the kids outside. Already exhausted and unhappy, but I feigned a cheerful disposition. I think some of them suspected.

8:45am- the kids were hard at work, as they are every morning. The first hour of the day is my favorite time every day, since the kids have an assignment ready (that I post the night before on the board), and they're all working.

9:30am- take the class over to the new 1st grade teacher's class (one of my pseudo-buddies, since we're both newbies). We start our "reading buddies" program, pairing a 1st grader up with one of my students so they can all work on reading and phonics skills. Principal is there to oversee. Chaotic experience; principal tells us it should be faster every morning (this was our first day!!), and offers some suggestions for the future. Leaves.

10:00am- THANK GOD, the kids are in P.E. I get a little time to myself to plan, prepare, relax, and make copies.

10:30am- Social Studies. We worked on the projects they started on Thursday. The sample I made this morning took me 15 minutes to make, final product. In an hour, a lot of the kids still weren't anywhere near done. Despite 6 times explaining the project, several students STILL have no idea what we're doing. Sigh. I recruit helpers to go around explaining to confused students. I tell the class that tomorrow is the last day to finish the projects (some are done already, and those who aren't were off task). There is a collective groan, but I tell them it's more than enough time if they're working.

11:45am- LUNCH!! I get a school lunch and put my feet up in the classroom. Time for e-mail and relaxing. Only a few things need to get done right now.

12:30pm- Math. Did negative numbers, which most of the kids liked. At one point, there was a general feeling of restlessness, so I had everyone get up to attempt a human number line and game of "postive vs. negative war." I made it up on the spot (I'm proud of that), but the kids weren't cooperative enough to participate, so back to their seats they went. About 6 5th graders left for intermediate band, which is every day but Wednesday. Oy. How will I do this now?

1:30pm- Reading. Had to do this with 6 kids missing. When the kids came back to packets on their desks, they freaked out. I explained everything, and it was ok, but my two top students seemed upset and stressed the rest of the day. Chaotic time.

2:45pm- Recess. Because band screws up my schedule a LOT (4th grade band students will be gone from 1:00-1:45 every day, and 5th grade band students from 1:45-2:30 every day), we now have recess at either 2:30 or 2:45. I love recess, because I can relax until there's a conflict (usually about 5 minutes in).

3:00pm- Wrap-up. Time to do kudos (where the kids congratulate each other on stuff done well), announcements, and so on. It took a long time to dismiss the class, and a lot of students seemed upset. Oh, well.

3:30pm- Grade-level meeting. Met with 4th and 5th grade teachers (one from each grade level) to talk about quarter planning. Turns out (no one bothered to tell the newbies) that we have to plan out what each subject will look like each quarter. (What standards we'll cover when) Bleh. Then, they gossipped for a long time, so I took my leave. An overall waste of 45 minutes after school.

4:15pm- Classroom. Got scolded by the custodian. "This is by far the messiest, dirtiest classroom. These kids aren't learning responsibility... or something. There's something they're not getting." Thanks, lady. It took ALL the energy I had to not scream at her.

5:00pm- promised myself I'd be out of here. It's 5:30 now, and I'm about ready to go, so that's better than usual.

My plan of the moment is to try to survive this year. I really want to teach 2 full years so I can get my provisional certificate turned into a full one (good for 6 years). Then, I'm out if things don't drastically improve. We'll see. It just sucks crying every day because you hate your job. It sucks even more that all you want to do is help these kids learn, and a lot of them are defiant and couldn't care less about their own education or well-being. Anyway, you get the gist. Until later.