There were several difficulties I expected as a new teacher. A smaller paycheck, less time all together and a more demanding job. But here are the things I didn’t expect:
- The sheer amount of curriculum planning needed. I’m teaching three different subjects and planning an hour and a half lesson every other day is really wearing me out. I’m getting better at it, but it’s still the biggest drain on my time. Some teachers worry about a student or stress about grades, but for me it’s the lesson planning that consumes me. It’s probably the biggest burden of teaching for me, since I cannot stand not being prepared for my classroom. I’m hoping it improves next school year when I can reuse all my plans from last.
- Discipline in the classroom. I remember the first time I asked a student into the hall. He wasn’t causing any physical harm, but he was definitely a distraction to class. When we arrived into the hall, I realize that he’s about 5 inches taller than me yet I’m the one lecturing him. It was a funny feeling. I’ve been getting better about being firm with the students, now that I know what to expect and have a clearer definition of the school rules, but learning how to effectively discipline is a long journey and being consistent is extremely difficult.
- Student missing class. Whether they’re absent or visiting ISS (In School Suspension), nothing ruins a perfect lesson plan like a student asking five minutes before the class starts, “Did I miss anything from last class?”. It’s extremely difficult to summarize what took me an hour and a half to teach into a five minute lesson before the beginning of class. It’s also difficult to give the students take home work when everything is done on the computer. Please, if you have a student in your family and they miss a day of school, have them come in early to make up for their absence. I know it won’t be possible for every class that student missed, but the teachers the student makes it to will remember his extra effort.
- How to grade work. Out of all things I’ve learned from my certification classes, I’m surprised we haven’t at all covered how to grade student work. My first set of six weeks grades were due last Tuesday and it was a rush to get them in. Several of the students were missing work (remember that absences thing
) and I had to rush grade a lot of work. I’ve learned to plan ahead this time, but I’m still having difficulty figuring out what a fair grading policy is. Several times I’ve given tests and quizzes and the students end up doing terribly on it. I know I’m making mistakes in my teaching methods but how much is it my fault and how much is it the students just not applying themselves. For the most part I’ve given the students the benefit of the doubt, but it would be nice to know if I’m on the right track.
Well, that’s my short list of difficulties. Here are the easy parts of teaching.
- The actual teaching. Because I’m (mostly) teaching subjects that I know by heart, when I’m in front of the class instructing the students, it really comes naturally. Yes there are times when I confuse myself and the students, or when I struggle to find another way to demonstrate an idea, but for the most part I feel I have the instructional part down. Obviously I have things to learn and can always improve, but I’m never really afraid of the teaching part of teaching.
- Falling asleep at night. Sure, I’m definitely not getting my full 8 hours of sleep every night, but I tell you I have never fallen asleep as fast as often then since I’ve started teaching. Within minutes of hitting the sack I’m fast asleep whereas a few months ago it might take me an hour to start dreaming. I don’t know if that’s technically part of teaching, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.
Speaking of sleeping, it’s now bedtime and my eyes are blurring up. Thanksgiving is a week away and I’m looking more forward to it then most of my students. 
Posted in Thoughts | Tagged easy, hard |
Never in my life have I found paperclips so useful. I love them.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged random |
There are several things brewing in the back of my head that I want to write down, but alas I’m way too busy making lesson plans to have time to write them down.
And apparently the powers that be decided Katie and I both needed to be completely overloaded with work at the same time, seeing as her manager has been out for the past four weeks in premature labor (long story. twins. one has been birthed, the other is still in there. yes, her manager has been in labor for four weeks. and I’m complaining about being busy…)
Webmastering is going well. I’ve got the students moving into embedded CSS now. They just finished successfully validating their first page (well, fixing the intentional errors in included on a page).
Quick thoughts
- Disciplining the students is hard
- Students absences ruin everything
- I’ve been using the Big Picture for daily warm-ups. Pretty pictures… Kids like it but I’ll need something new since they’re getting tired of it.
My goal over the next few weeks is to stop trying to just make it past the next day and start planning to make it past the next week.
Wow, that was quite an experience. I don’t have too much time to delve into things, but Murphy sure was busy today. First off, about half the staff I know there were gone for the day at training and such. Second, I realize with about 45 minutes before the first bell that I don’t have a key for one of my classrooms. Thankfully my wonderful mentor helped me out on that one.
Then, I need to run to the attendance office to get class rosters to check attendance, but it turns out the sheets that get printed aren’t correct. Again, my mentor comes to save the day.
Of course my wonderfully drawn out lesson plan takes half the time I expect it to take, so I end up with 45 minutes left in class and nothing else to do.
But I get past that and make it to my 3rd period class (2nd period is my conference). That’s when things turn ugly. I of course planned to have a projector for my introduction, but setting up a projector and a computer (don’t have a laptop yet) took about 30 minutes of class time. Oh, and I also run out of the surveys I wanted the students to complete during warm-ups because the rosters were wrong.
Alas, I have staff members who were wonderfully helpful throughout the day and saved me several times. It’s amazing how much of a difference having someone run one errand for you can save the day. I’ll have to remember that later when someone else needs help.
To sum it up, teaching takes a LOT of work and is a LOT of responsibility and you think about running away a LOT. But as long as you don’t and you give it your best, you’ll make it to the end of the day.
As my friend Kelly says, “Teaching takes guts.”
The first question asked when I was interviewing for my teaching job was, “Why do you want to be a teacher?” It’s an extremely important question, because sooner or later, you’re going to second guess your choice. It’s not just teaching, it happens in any career. It’s hard to do the same thing for 40 years straight.
To quote the great movie Keeping the Faith:
The truth is you can never tell yourself there is only one thing you could be… You cannot make a real commitment unless you accept that it’s a choice that you keep making again and again and again.
To be truthful, I’m doing teaching for me. I’m not doing it because it’s the right thing to do, I’m doing it because I want to feel good at the end of the day. I want to know that my life is helping others. I’ve only got one life and I’m not going to spend it doing things that make me unhappy.
With all that being said, it’s good to list out the reasons why I want to teach. Here they are, in no particular order.
- Make a difference that I can see. Yes, there are really good websites out there that change peoples lives and I hope to build a few of them over my lifetime. But being able to directly have an impact on someone’s life is something I definitely look forward to.
- Bring web development education up to speed. Ask web developers and they’ll agree, there is a growing gap between what schools are teaching and what the industry is demanding. By taking it to the High School classroom, I hope to get students thinking early about writing accessible, maintainable code that makes lives easier.
- Look forward to Mondays. I believe that you should look forward to Mondays.Too often we get stuck in a rut and start dreading our working hours. We only have a short time on Earth, don’t waste it.
- Teach skills that go beyond the classroom. I’ve only taken two web development courses my entire life, one in High School and one in College. While these classes were informative and shaped the way I became a developer, they were only responsible for 10% of what I know about web development today. The rest I’ve learned from technology books, online tutorials, discussion forums and hands-on experience, all independent of an academic environment. I did it because I loved it. If I can give the students the skill and confidence to learn happily on their own, they suddenly control their future.They’ll be happier, more motivated and more satisfied with their career choice because they’ll have found something that makes them happy.
- Get students excited to come to school. If the students find web development half as awesome as I find it, they’ll be more motivated to make it to classes because they’ll know they’ll learn something interesting in my class.
- Address the social and economic impact of the Internet. Let’s face it, the internet is changing lives for the better (and sometimes the worse). Whether it be the way businesses communicate or the creation of virtual communities, the future needs to think about these changes.
- Teach future web developers the ideas that will advance the web, not hold it back.
So there you have it, why I want to teach.
I’m reminded of a computer game I used to constantly play during my childhood years called Quest for Glory. The basic storyline is that you, an average, everyday citizen, are going to save the world from evil forces. The only obstacles in your way include some evil sorcerers, a couple of corrupt leaders, some brigands, a mad scientist and just a few monsters scattered about (including, but not limited to ogre’s, goblins, giant scorpions, vampyric rabbits, dinosaurs, and giants). In addition to that, you have little experience in the exact thing you’re trying to accomplish.
But the cool part is, if you stick with it, you do end up saving the world, and you have fun doing it, despite the flying mantrays.
I think becoming a teacher is a lot like this. You start off with an idea; “I want to make a difference.” With that thought, you begin down the path of becoming a hero. The monsters don’t take long to show up. And for every one you slay, three more appear.
But so be it, you want to be a hero.
So here I am, ready to make a difference, even if I need to fight a few monsters along the way.
