bad day
Today I feel like a terrible teacher. I took over the freshmen classes this week, and the kids have been so bad. Today was the worst...I gave four detentions for being late to class, and the kids were all pissed and complaining about how they hate this school and want to switch. They were all talking excessively in class. I can't even get their attention when it's time for class to start. I feel like I have no control. The only thing I can really give them is detentions, and the students don't even care about that. Some of them are booked for detentions several weeks in advance. They brag about how many detentions they have! Today we had an assembly, but it felt more like a prison camp. Teachers stood all over the aisles and the principal threatened all kinds of things if a student even said a word to the person next to her. I don't ever remember it being like that at my school. Of course, since they weren't allowed to speak in the assembly, they went berserk when they got back to my class.
The sophomores were bad too. I have a couple of students that I really need to crack down on, but I'm so confused about what I should do with them. These two girls are really nice and good students, but they're also really defiant. They have got enough attitude to last us all forever...My mentor teacher doens't really discipline them for behaving this way. I would give them a detention every day, but I feel like I can't or shouldn't because my mentor teacher never does.
Plus I gave a quiz today, and over half the kids failed it. We've been working on clauses and sentences for over a week; personally, I feel like we've run it into the ground. I've explained this stuff a million times! I did all of these things to help them do well, like stayed after school every day to help them and answer questions. I made up a comprehensive review sheet, and then made the test from the review sheet, and they still didn't pass! So not only can I not control my classes, but I can teach anything either....
I feel totally discouraged. I wish that my mentor teacher was more encouraging. She tells me lots of things I need to be doing, but it feels a lot more critical because she doens't always tell me the things I'm doing well. I'm getting observed tomorrow for the first time with an unfamiliar advisor, and the kids will probably be crazy again because they're off on Friday and have a long weekend. I wish Chet or Karen were my advisors. I was feeling confident about it, but now I'm feeling really nervous that everything is going to go badly.
The sophomores were bad too. I have a couple of students that I really need to crack down on, but I'm so confused about what I should do with them. These two girls are really nice and good students, but they're also really defiant. They have got enough attitude to last us all forever...My mentor teacher doens't really discipline them for behaving this way. I would give them a detention every day, but I feel like I can't or shouldn't because my mentor teacher never does.
Plus I gave a quiz today, and over half the kids failed it. We've been working on clauses and sentences for over a week; personally, I feel like we've run it into the ground. I've explained this stuff a million times! I did all of these things to help them do well, like stayed after school every day to help them and answer questions. I made up a comprehensive review sheet, and then made the test from the review sheet, and they still didn't pass! So not only can I not control my classes, but I can teach anything either....
I feel totally discouraged. I wish that my mentor teacher was more encouraging. She tells me lots of things I need to be doing, but it feels a lot more critical because she doens't always tell me the things I'm doing well. I'm getting observed tomorrow for the first time with an unfamiliar advisor, and the kids will probably be crazy again because they're off on Friday and have a long weekend. I wish Chet or Karen were my advisors. I was feeling confident about it, but now I'm feeling really nervous that everything is going to go badly.