2nd and 17

Wow! One week done. (Just 17 left before Christmas!) Pretty overwhelming. Lots of new things to get used to, like the creepy, annoying intercom system, for instance, that could blast out at literally any moment of the school day. Like teaching a “block” schedule, 90 minutes at a time. And kids that talk back too much, basically tell you off and say your rules are wrong. In Namibia, my students were completely apathetic, nonverbally stubborn, or just doing their own thing, but they never really gave me lip the way American students can. Were they more respectful? Debatable. But they did not verbally challenge me the way my students have done already here.

My first few days were a challenge. I felt unprepared for the first week of school, having barely stepped into my classroom before the weekend of. As I wrote on one our many evaluations, I think MTC should have cut out the last week of summer training, which was pretty unfocused and repetitive, and sent us out early to do whatever moving and settling in and preparing we needed to do. As it was, I barely had time to go home, pack up all my stuff, and get back here before teacher orientation, which lasted all week with barely any time to do anything except sit in meetings all day long for five days straight! As it was, I never could have gotten my stuff moved here or my classroom cleaned up and halfway organized before school started without my Dad’s help. Well my unfamiliarity with the system and lack of preparation—not from laziness but from lack of time and not having been here before—has led to a lot things I learned over the summer about lesson planning and so on and so forth just sort of flying out the window. I went into survival mode almost immediately. My first day did not go especially well, and neither did the second, or third, or fourth. Just draining. The classroom was a battle of wills more often than not.

On the bright side, I continue to be reasonably impressed with the way my school is being run this year. (Then again, I have pretty low expectations, based on my previous teaching experience!) Most of the other teachers seem decent and interested in helping me get adjusted. My principal is the same as the school had two years ago. Sometime I should email Jaws and ask how the G-Man was for him, but he seems pretty okay so far. He is very kind and soft-spoken, but seems to get the point across as far as being serious. I just hope he is as serious about the big things as his talk, or as he is about little things, such as the students always walking on the right side of the hall! I especially like the vice principal, Mr. Bic, because he has been very no-nonsense, supportive, and respectful. He came to observe and talk to my classes a couple times already. He backs me up with detention and in-school suspension (ISS) and seems pretty reasonable to work with as a colleague. He is from Rosedale, near here, spent some time in the Army, and this is his first time at our school. I like him a lot. I even like the secretaries at the school so far, a LOT more than I liked my school secretary in Namibia. I think I am going to try the bribery (by way of chocolates, etc.) Ben recommended, which I failed to do but probably should have done in Namibia. I guess I selfishly thought I was the volunteer there, and they should be appreciating me!

My students have complained a lot about my traffic signal system this week, although it is not really clear whether they hate the signal itself or just the rules that it signifies. Well I started off pretty strict and stayed pretty strict most of the week, for all the good it did. Unfortunately I am still struggling to learn names, which hampers my discipline significantly. I have a seating chart but rely on it too much. I am planning to take pictures Monday, with the hope that it will also help me learn names. Students for the most part have not complied with my copying paragraphs punishment (as expected), and I have been assigning detentions for that. At this point, it is unclear which is the lesser punishment, the copying or the detention, so I think I am going to make a few slight adjustments to the system: (1) 3 paragraphs instead of 5 for each check mark. The paragraph they have to copy is pretty long, and for most people, 3 would be most of a page, front and back, handwritten. (2) Hold my own detentions instead of sending them to Mr. Bic. I have no problem doing this, as I will always have stuff to plan and organize after school, anyway. This will allow me to enforce: (3) They are not released from detention until they copy twice as many paragraphs as they had to do originally. These three steps combined should get the point across. The consequence behind the consequence has to be clearly worse the step before it, otherwise students will simply act worse in order to proceed to the lesser consequence beyond. From the talk I hear, that was the problem with detention and ISS at our school last year.

Thursday afternoon, an Algebra II student, a senior, came to talk with me. He is in my 4th block, which unlike my 3rd block Algebra II, has remained pretty stubborn about my rules. He and I had a long conversation for almost an hour and a half. He complained about me being “uptight” and I explained that I will remain firm on my expectations, although I will listen and take into consideration those who come to talk to me respectfully like he has. He spent a lot of the time telling me stuff about how other teachers did things but also about himself. I learned a lot about him, actually, how he grew up with no father around, how he might be an expecting father any day now, and how his aspiration is to attend culinary school up in Memphis after high school. He is a football player, a running back, but apparently ineligible this season because, according to the story, he was worried about something happening to his mother last semester, and so presumably his grades slipped. He seems like a reasonably intelligent and decent guy who, like most teenagers, does not always take things as seriously as he should.

This is the same student, by the way, who earlier that day had brought his mom to observe the class. That was a shock! Never before had I seen any parent in my classroom, let alone an unannounced visit on the very first week of school. So apparently my little friend had complained to his mom, and she had come to see for herself what this Mr. A was all about. Well when she came in, I introduced myself politely, and she frowned less. She introduced herself as my student’s mother, and I invited her to take a seat at the back, which she did. I went on with my lesson, a little nervous inside, having no idea what this lady was like or how she would judge me. But surprisingly, everything was fine. The class behaved better while she was there. (Surprise, surprise!) Mr. Bic happened to come in then, as well. He said a word or two with the class, and then the parent also asked to say a word. She told the class to give my rules a chance and gave me a vote of confidence before she left, which is somewhat reassuring. Not that it helped the class behave much better after she left, but at least the adults are still behind me.

So my schedule:

1. *planning period*
2. Transition to Algebra
3. Algebra II
4. Algebra II

It sounds like a short day, but remember, these are 90-minute “blocks.” We start at 10 before 8 and end at 10 after 3. Fortunately, my hall is on first lunch, which means that I get half an hour between 2nd and 3rd blocks, instead of my 3rd block interrupted in the middle. At first I thought first block planning period would also be nice, but most of the other teachers seem to prefer having planning period in the middle of their schedule.

I lost a lot of sleep Thursday night. Lesson plans for next week were due the next day, and all the good and the bad from 4th block that day still haunted me through the night.

Then it was Friday, the end of a week that was frankly even more difficult than I expected it to be. I had an opportunity to reward my 3rd block Algebra II with Friday fun time. They seemed to enjoy it, and so did I. Of the three blocks that I teach, 3rd block has been the real bright spot for me. They have really been no problem, ever since day two, so it was nice to reward them. I guess I lightened up a bit on Friday overall, which may have helped things go a little more smoothly. Still had to write up a bratty girl in Transition to Algebra, but I loosened the reigns a little on the 4th block big kids, and things went better. I was actually less strict than I would like to be, but I left school at the end of the week feeling much better than I did throughout the middle of the week. As most traditional teacher advice will tell you, it is okay to start off a little too strict so you can loosen up later. Now I just need to find the proper balance, and I will probably loosen my expectations just a little bit as far as what happens in the classroom before the bell rings. The adjustments I have in mind for the consequences should help. And I will learn their names! I have to.

Since my life is still so unsettled—by which I mean living in an apartment where I have no intention to stay any longer than necessary, with a kitchen that is barren and unclean and my bedroom stacked with boxes upon which I type this blog on my computer—I have limited my food intake to one meal per day. After school, I reward myself by stopping somewhere to eat out. I gorge myself with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all rolled into one, and then I roll on home on my bicycle, in the middle of the sweltering heat and soggy humidity of Mississippi August. My favorite place is Backyard Burgers, which according to the website, has it roots right here in Cleveland, MS. Not very conveniently located up busy Hwy 61, but hands-down the best franchise burgers you will find anywhere—avail. with delicious hot cobbler with ice cream—yum! One of my favorite things about moving to Mississippi is the food. Oh, and La Cabaña, with its 32-once draft beers and fajitas with chips and salsa, as also not a bad way to kick back and enjoy the end of the school day!

The first week was harder than expected, but I still feel lucky to be in Cleveland. And I have hopes that things will get better in the classroom. I will find my feet eventually. I will do better, and my students will adjust some. Hopefully.