Teaching
 

Are there any young/new/first year teachers out there? This is my first year and I'm looking for some ideas and dos and don'ts!!
I am really loving it so far, I have 10th graders and they are a lot of fun. I know I'm crazy!

This is my second year teaching. I teach 10th grade World History.


How are things going for you so far? What subject are you teaching?

2nd year starts on Tuesday with a teacher work week. This will be my first year teaching Pre-K! My Bronx kids are so cute :)

Hey want to create a blog with anonymous funny entries like tard-blog.com?

-Rudey
--We'll make millions

I start my yearlong internship on Tuesday. We have work out of the buttocks, so please pray for me. I dunno how I'm going to make it! :confused: :(

Two people living in different big cities with two different careers...that'd be a funny blog. I'd do it if you set it up. :)

I'm teaching 10th grade world history too!!!! Crazy!! THis is my first year and my internship, so I'm soooooooooo busy. I'm coaching as well so I get NO sleep!!

If there is any advice I can impart to new teachers it's definitely to schedule personal time for yourself. As ridiculous as it sounds, do it, because as teachers we are always thinking about the one more thing we could do for our lessons, etc... I didn't learn that until my second year and at the end of my first year I wasn't sure I wanted to continue. I've only been teaching at the high school level for 4 years now (2 years at the university level) and it's something I recommend to all new teachers. If anyone needs any advice or needs to blow off some new teacher steam feel free to pm me. I remember what it was like...and it's still kinda like that. :p

This is my fourth year teaching middle school. I also coach 2 sports and I am pursuing my National Board Certification this year. :( All I can offer is have an open mind about everything (co-workers, students, new techniques, "worthless workshops") and manage your time wisely. Also, remember, there is life outside of the classroom! I know my non-teacher friends get tired of hearing about groupwises, AR, lesson plans, grading, etc. I make it a point to not talk so much about it to my boyfriend...its bad enough its almost all I think about sometimes, I don't have to let everyone else endure it also! Be creative, ther are lots of good (and beware, lots of bad ones too!) internet sites with lesson plans and activities on them. If you need anything, or just want to vent, PM me! :)

teaching
 

This is my first year teaching in a public school system--before that, I taught only in private schools for 8 years. I'm dual certified in English and History Ed. and have taught grades 7-12. I've taught TONS of social studies and English classes--I'll be more than happy to help out.

PM me.

Cheryl

I know exactly what you mean....I'm coaching as well! What sport are you coaching? I'm the JV girls volleyball coach.

I started my teaching credential program this past week, multiple subject!

What fields are you doing your internship in? Good luck, and I'll be happy to help in any way I can!

My best advice to teachers in a new building is to eat lunch with other teachers! Don't just hole up in your room all the time grading papers-- go to the staff cafe or work room or to some place where the other teachers eat. You'll get to know people in other grades and fields, and it's a great time to get advice or updates on how your school runs.

Make sure to schedule time for yourself after school, on weekends, and during the school day.

While I totally agree, it's so important to recognize as well who the negative people on your staff are and to stay clear of them. Sometimes they bring other people into the negative vibes, and that will just bring you down. Make friends with the other new teachers, they will feel just as overwhelmed as you and could probably use some friends. While I am no longer the "new" teacher, this is only my 4th year, I have made friends with a lot of the newer teachers and we go out on Fridays for happy hour, just because they know what it's like to be in the classroom.

A lot of my non-teacher friends think my job is a cake-walk,(HAHAHA!) and thus don't understand my frustration some days, so it helps to have an outlet that is just "for teachers". There are some great resources out there, check out www.teachers.net there are chatboards for teachers and a lot of people have the same problems and it's nice to know there are other people in your boat. Successful school year to all of you out there!

ME TOO!!!!! I'm also coaching jv basketball and i'll be an assistant track coach. WE're finally done with tournaments and now we only have district games. Our varisty is ranked 5th in the state, so that's exciting to be a part of!! : )

Wow, that's a lot of sports to be coaching!


We have our first scrimmage on Tuesday. We don't start our league games until the end of the month. Our first tournament is September 18th.


Good luck with your season!

:) I'm also coaching V-ball....maybe we should start a volleyball coaches thread! Our league play starts on the 15th....I've got a lot of work to do between now and then! In the spring, I coach soccer.

oh yeah, I got my NB box the other day...I'm too scared to put the cd in and start looking at everything. I have until March... plenty of time, right? :(

I work for Head Start. My kids start back next Monday, we had parent orientations the last two days.

Who is your scrimmage with ? Do you all play VV or AV for anything like the bell?

We play at Silverado on Wednesday, Sept. 15th.
at Granite Hills on the 21st
at the Victor Valley Tournament on October 9th
at Victor Valley on Oct. 14th
at Apple Valley on Oct. 26th
at Victor Valley on Nov. 1st

We also have many games at home.

The schools in our league are:
Victor Valley
Apple Valley
Sultana
Rim of the World
Serrano

Maybe you can come watch :D !

ok v-ball coaches...i need to vent!

game today...first of all, whoever made the stupid schedule has us playing double headers (a possiblity of 6 matches) That makes me mad cause it kills my girls. Plus if you get stomped into the ground the first game, you do not have time to regroup and come around in time for the next 2-3 matches.

ok...1st game we win 25-13...2nd match we lost 18-25...3rd match, score is 15-10. Ref never calls game point. I call at timeout and speak to my girls, then approach the stand. I ask him way he is not calling the match after 15. That is they way we have always finshed it. He said this year the rules had changed...now its 25-25-25. I get my rule book, find scoring and game rules, and it read In high school and college...best 3 out of 5, last match is abbrevated to 15. Since we are playing a abbreviated schedule anyway (2 out of 3) wouldn't that apply to our 3rd game? He says no...

what do yall think? We ended up losing that match 23-25. We did come back and win the 2nd game 25-11, 25-7. It still makes me hot though!!!:mad:

how are the rest of the season going?

We had our first actual game today. We lost game 1 22-25 and game 2 21-25. They didn't talk to one another, and basically didn't work as a team. It's frustrating when you see it all unfold from the sidelines though. I think that this was a good wake up call for the girls, now they know how important it is when I tell them in practice to call the ball etc.


On a good note, our varsity kicked but, they won in three. The other team didn't score more then 15 in any of the games.

We have a tournament this weekend, we'll see how they do then.

Here, with JV, we always play 2 out of 3. The last game is to 15. That's strange that you play to 25 on the last game.

Cutiepatootie, I made a mistake, Victor isn't in our league, but we do play them twice.

My season is going pretty good. Our varsity team is ranked number 7 in state right now for 2A schools in Texas, so thats exciting!! They have beat a couple of big 4 and 5A schools so they have made a pretty impressive showing. They are fun to watch. My JV girls are pretty good too, we've lost some and won some...........but I guess that's how it goes for everyone. We have a dual match on Saturday against Victoria Memorial (which happens to be the second largest high school in the state of Texas) and Poth who is ranked number one in state for 2A. Yea, this will be fun. I'm loving it though. I've learned so much!! HOpe everyone's seasons are going great!

That is always the way it has been with us. I really think the ref made a mistake. After I showed him the rulebook, he still would not change his way of thinking. After the second full game, he came up to me and said "I'll call....(i forgot who) and make sure I'm right about playing till 25 and let you know." My respnse was " I was winning 15-10, is that going to give me that win back?". He had no answer and walked off. I hate to lose anyway, but that just made me even more mad.

We played really good. My outside hitter is amazing. I just need to to think and place the ball now. One of my setter is having some trouble, so that will be a focal point at practice. Since we are doing this double hitter thing 1~ we will never play speight again. Already played them twice, in 1 day 2~ we don't play again until next wed....too much time off. UGHHHH....it just makes me mad!:mad:

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Glad to see all of the volleyball coaches!

On the flip side, I am working with a group at the school called Phase I. This is our community service club that focuses just on community service!! We are the only middle school in our state that has such an organization, and it has really blossomed! The original sponsor even got the school to offer an elective class this year called IMPACT which is similar to Phase I.

This year we had 83 students apply, and could only take 60 right now. Unless another parent team steps up to help us out, these other students will be on a wait list as kids drop out, if they do.

They do all kinds of projects...work with the humane societies, make meals for homeless shelters, raise funds for march of dimes, cancer society, but most importantly, they are learning the value of helping others.

Sounds like a great organization trojangal! I know we have several community service organizations on our campus...it's too bad that more students don't get involved!

ok..I need some help. Tomorrow, the honor roll kids are going on a field trip. I am not going, but 3 people out of my area are. While they are having fun all day, I have to cover my class PLUS theirs...AT THE SAME TIME! I am mad and have made up my mind I am calling in sick. I have never called in before, in the 4 years I have been teaching. How would you go about it, what excuse would you use? I can easily get a dr's note if needed. I honestly do no think it is fair and there are a lot of other things I need to do other than babysit these groups. You can only imagine what the kids left behind are like!!! :mad:

Ok so I'm in a Master's and Certification program at TAMU Corpus CHristi and teaching at a school about an hour out of town............but anyway I had my first observation today from class and it went really well. She gave me great marks on everything. Anyone else out there doing an internship? I have half of my certification testing completed and I'm currently working to fulfill the rest of the requirements. It's crazy having a class, coaching, and teaching all at once. But I'm making it........
AWJDZ, maybe you could ask them for some help, I mean it ISN"T fair for you to be left with all the little hellians who couldn't go on the fieldtrip, but you do'nt want to leave them high and dry either! Or maybe you do, if you can't get help, call in sick!! :D

Is anyone having one of "those" years where nothing is going right and the kids are just insane? Our adminstration has done a 180 this year (I think they are both looking for new jobs) and the school is falling apart. Ughhh....I have gotten to the point where I am going to explode or either not go to work (ok...thats extreme)

That pretty much describes my year as well. We have a new principal who has very little experience in the education field. She will not let anyone tell her anything, though, to help her out. It's not even Thanksgiving yet and people are looking around to move to another school asap (me included)

*bump*

I'm provisionally certified in biology and in the state of NJ, that means I can teach 7-12. I DESPERATLY want to teach high school but every district I interview with wants to stick me in 7th or 8th grade.
My hometown offered me a position teaching 7th grade life science, and actually took me on a tour of the school (something they never do). I've perm subbed at the high school level before for the science director, and he knows how much I want to teach high school.
My problem is this- as I was touring the school, the teachers were all telling me how much they love 7th/8th grades beause its more personal, you get more of a 'home-y' feel, the kids are still impressionable, you can still do cutesy stuff, etc. All the while I'm thinking, 'this isn't what i want.'

I felt like I was PMN being taken away around a house. But instead of showing off their rec room, they were showing off their labs. All the while I'm thinking, this isn't my first choice, but they are offering me a nice "bid" with very nice benefits and a nice commute-something very difficult to get in the North Jersey area. Its not my first choice, but its also just a year long contract. If I take the job, I can essentially use them for a year to become fully certified. I'll also be done my masters and can move anywhere in the state.

Did anyone else feel like this when they were searching for job? Part of me just wants to take the job to be done with it. But every time I think about 7th grade, I think about how horrible of an age that is.

Ya know, 7th can be a lot better than 8th. :)

It's a great way to get a foot in a door and experience on your resume. It's also better to have a job than to have no job. You may be able to apply for in-district jobs earlier-- they're usually posted as soon as possible within the district, and usually in-district people will have 10 days to say "hey! I want to apply for that job!" and they'll often be interviewed before the job is posted publicly outside the district.

I'm refreshing my resume tonite so I can apply to teach Pre-K for summer school. July is going to be a looooong month!

Excuse_my_underscores_my_spacebar_has_an_attitude.

I_just_got_my_job_for_the_fall!!!_I'll_be_teaching _in_either_a_
special-ed_kindergarten_or_first_grade._I'm_excited_now._A nd_this
_school_has_a_gang_of_supplies,_so_I_won't_have_to _buy_much!!!

So. I just started school this week in a teacher education program. I already have a B.A. in English, so I'm just taking all the education classes. I'm going to be starting field work in the next week or two at a MIDDLE SCHOOL, which kind of horrifies me because I want to teach high school (but middle school field work is required as well).

I've already passed the PLACE exam (which is a Colorado-only test similar to PRAXIS although I've heard it's easier, which is why I took it instead), so at least I don't have to worry about that.

I hope this is fun. I've really enjoyed learning about how I know nothing about teaching but I already have a teaching philosophy. :)

Hi, I was wondering if any body got certified thought the Houston Independent School District Alternative Certification program and how did you like it?

I haven't read this whole thread, but wanted to contribute anyway. :)

I finished college in May and have moved back home to do my student teaching this fall. I'll be teaching 9th grade English and 11th grade American Lit. - I haven't had these grades before for practicum or anything, so it's good that I'm rounding out my experience.

I'm a little nervous because the teacher made it clear to me that she does not want a student teacher due to a bad experience in the past. She doesn't seem to like me much, but I'm up to the challenge. Currently, I'm trying to put together lesson plans and such for the freshmen because she intimated that I'd pretty much have those kids right off the bat.

I'm having a relatively tough time dealing with the college-to-actual world switch. It's hard for me knowing that I'm not going back to all my friends in the fall. BUT I'm trying to stay positive and look forward to what's coming next.

Anyway, yes. Excuse the rambling. I'm sure I'll have lots of teacher venting to do on here in the coming months. :)

I heard from my principal, I will be teaching a special education kindergarten class, about 4-6 kids. She said we'll combine with the general ed class for certain activities or subjects.

I'm excited.

Wow, that is exciting!! It really takes a special kind of patience and talent to work with special education children. Good luck!!!

So I have taken on a new teaching job. I moved to Montreal to help a missionary church start a Christian school. I will actually be a supervisor and the principal. It is starting with about 12 kids and I'm super thrilled to be doing this. I just got back from training in Ottawa, and for all you Canadians, you should be very proud of your national capital, it's beautiful!! Anyway, we will be using Accelerated Christian Education curriculum. Wish me luck and if you're the praying type, please do so for me!!! Good luck to everyone else as they start new teaching jobs or continue with an old one.