the changing tides of being an authority figure

One of my major struggles as a teacher has been, and continues to be reconciling my thoughts on being an authority figure in the classroom.

Today, I realized how much these thoughts have changed to some degree

I offer a list chronicling the details:

• Advisory: two students surreptitiously eating sunflower seeds. Immediate detention to both of them which they took with good grace surprisingly
• Advisory (again): students passing/reading notes while I taught a somewhat dry lesson on effective questioning. Took notebook away, and had a firm discussion in the hallway with one the perpetrators. Gave her time to cool off, and then moved her seat to a new spot
• Gave two detentions as an advisor to two other students: lateness, and chewing gum in class
• Group E: started the day off with a firm talk about expectations, and used my clipboard to shut down shouting out at the beginning of class (something they absolutely love doing)
• My new statement "Not everything in your brain has to come out of your mouth. Learn to control that"
• Group F: threatening to take away a math dance I had created if they did not control themselves, which they immediately did.
  
• Group F: acting foolish at the end of the period (students were putting up chairs, talking, etc, while I was trying to tell them the hw assignment). Finally, I used one of my new trick moves, which is simply 'be quiet for a minute'. someone of course said something, so my response was 'now it's two minutes'. We got to five minutes before they realized I was serious.
  

From all this, I am realizing that I am no longer afraid to be 'the reluctant disciplinarian'. I have my moments of weakness, ineffectual and mixed signals, etc. but I am learning nonetheless, and learning when to put my foot down.

This is good....(I think) I hope it continues....

Adrienne has gotten me hooked on a ridiculous scottish historical romance sci-fi time-travel genealogical adventure.

one of the mottos the lead clansmen yells:

je suis prest

....

so mote it be.

let the week begin

thebriefsmellofhope

Wow,

it's been awhile....

Highlights

• Feeling less overwhelmed about this teaching process.
• Everyday is a battle, but I am surviving
• I loved watching my students scream the words 'Obama' on Nov. 5th after the election. I let them joyously cheer for 10 seconds before we got back to our math work.
  
• I am spear-heading a field trip for our girls to go to Washington during Inauguration Day. I hope it works, I would love to go.
  
• Math is going well. We are engaged in a project right now involving profit, money, and graphing using a prompt on selling t-shirts. So far the girls are doing all right, but are having a tough time understanding the concept of profit.
  
• I am tweaking, honing, cutting, expanding every day to make this fabric called teaching fit me a little better. It really will never end

Lowlights

• Having a hard time valuing student work. (what a surprise...This was predicted last year thanks to UTEP). I really need to figure out a way where grading/paperwork happens despite my own antipathy towards it.
  
• Discipline is still hard, but I have a somewhat effective system that works to varying degrees. Basically, it involves a clipboard in which students write their names if they are misbehaving. If the behavior continues, subsequent checks are added with the highest being a lunch detention.
  
• I am getting better at organization, with my proudest moment being the creation of a job role "HW Recorder" and the HW binder, in which students can check what the HW was from the previous day thanks to the recorder. I'll try to post a picture of this sometime soon....I need to do a better job of explaining to the kids how this works, but I have a feeling that this will work well if I give it the time it needs.
  
• Not feeling well, and it's still 7 weeks till winter break. Let's just say I am looking forward to resting!

Oh! and I won the VAN award at my school. Not quite sure what it stands for, but I got a neat little trophy the science teacher fished out of a bin, and a nice award saying nice things about my hard work, so I was pleased, flattered, and a little surprised. =)

Here's what the award said below:

"Ms. Sara

Oct ‘08

She is an extremely hard worker, and adds her own spice to everything that she does. She's a breath of fresh air.

Sara has been a great community member. She is eager to listen and share with other staff. She spends countless hours of her free time working at school. She does a great job of following through, asking for help when she needs it and adding her own wisdom to the pool. Sara is a very committed teacher.

One specific thing that I appreciate about Sara is that she is extremely conscientious about each and every one of her students, and determined not to let any fall through the cracks. Whether she is staying late to make calls home, spending half her lunch break helping a student, or working hard to create engaging lessons for the students as a group, she is always working hard for our community. She has already proven herself to be a real asset to our team.

Sara's sincerity and compassion towards her students and colleagues extends far beyond the call of duty. Whadda gal!"

Hope all is well with the rest of you,

Sara