Teaching

[AngelPhiSig]

Hey everyone, I finally got a teaching job! Im teaching at a charter school in the inner city here... its tough!

My students have been through many teachers this year, and have been placed in other rooms when there was no teacher - meaning other grade levels... Im the person who has stayed the longest since the origional teacher. There was someone who stayed one day.

I am still concidered a sub, they want to be sure that I stay.

I have been in the room for three weeks. I have no voice today because I have been screaming.

Many of my kids have been suspended since I have been there... they like to just walk around, throw pencils and swear. OH by the way, they're in SECOND grade.

Any ideas on good behavior management plans? Not theory, I need things that have been tried and WORK for inner city/trouble children. Ive been told by other teachers to bribe/use a raffle... just to start to control the kids...

other ideas?

Michelle, I just remembered that you work in NYC (when I was dreading going to work) how are your kids?

[ZTAMich]

Originally posted by AngelPhiSig
Hey everyone, I finally got a teaching job! Im teaching at a charter school in the inner city here... its tough!

My students have been through many teachers this year, and have been placed in other rooms when there was no teacher - meaning other grade levels... Im the person who has stayed the longest since the origional teacher. There was someone who stayed one day.

I am still concidered a sub, they want to be sure that I stay.

I have been in the room for three weeks. I have no voice today because I have been screaming.

Many of my kids have been suspended since I have been there... they like to just walk around, throw pencils and swear. OH by the way, they're in SECOND grade.

Any ideas on good behavior management plans? Not theory, I need things that have been tried and WORK for inner city/trouble children. Ive been told by other teachers to bribe/use a raffle... just to start to control the kids...

other ideas?

Michelle, I just remembered that you work in NYC (when I was dreading going to work) how are your kids?

NYC teacher in the hooooouuussssssssseee!

I have the 4yr olds so praise and time outs work. Here's some things I've learned from co-workers and being a prep teacher my first year.

Right now a co-worker is using a bribe type of system with one of her autistic kinder. students. If Anthony sits on the rug for 10 minutes, he gets to play with the counting bears for 10 minutes. 10 minutes of reading gets 10 minutes in the block center and so on with other tasks she wants him to do but he needs motivation to do. That's probably too much 'baby' stuff for 2nd grade tho.

Another co-worker uses the "happy note" system. She made a small (the larger side of a ceral box) chart and divided it into 5 sections, each a different color. From top to bottom red, orange, yellow, green, blue. Each color repsents an adjective to describe behavior. Red is "uh-oh" Orange "watch out" yellow "good" green "excellent" & blue is "super star". Each child has a clothes pin with his/her name on it and begins the day on yellow. Depending on the child's behavior, THEY move their clip up & down during the day. The teacher tells them when but bc they move it there is a bit more ownership of their behavior. If you end the day on "Super Star" you get a "happy note" a slip of paper that says " 'Allison' was a Super Star today! 12/21/05. Signed Miss Jones". Those kids LOVE to get a happy note and parents have come to expect this daily behavior report.

I have used this system for a 3/4 grade bilingual special education class I saw 3 times a week. They needed a whole group system & I needed it to be something I could carry with me to their class. I put a kidney bean into a plastic container each time they were quiet as a came into the classroom, followed directions etc. I shook the container too so they could hear how many beans they had. I told them that when they got to 20 beans they would get a new pencil from me (the mice must eat them at our school kids always lose pencils!). You could also use this as a mngmt system for the different tables in your classroom. Each table had a name/color/ some way to ID itself, write that on the container and add beans during the day as the tables behave the right way. Grey sand with a bunch of glitter in it can be used as 'bling' instead of the beans. I like being able to hear the beans clang around in the container. The "bling" tho is quite popular up here in the land of 50cent songs..

Praise works, sadly bc I find most of our kids don't get enough of it at home.

Clearly you & the kids are not in a great situation bc they have had a few teachers already this year who have not stuck it out with them. Any kid is going to see this and wonder "why did she leave?" and get madder as time goes on. All this change is not good for them. When you pick a system to use just be consistent & treat it like the first day of school all over again. They are use to chaos and will take some time to adjust.

And finally...congrats to you for getting a job. And for being the kind of person who wants to work in the inner city. It's the hardest best job you'll ever have!

[AngelPhiSig]

Michelle,

Thanks for the advice!

I had a sick day today.... and I slept ALL day.

I am so frustrated with work and am having such a hard time getting the behaviors in control.


Note to anyone having children any time soon:

Dont raise your children to disrespect adults. Dont raise them to use the f-bomb at age 8.

Thanks.

[AchtungBaby80]

I'm so nervous--I start my student teaching in a week and a half! Our professors keep telling us to get ready for the most stressful semester of our entire lives...do you all have any advice for getting through it?

Oh, I'll be teaching middle and high school.

[DZTUBAGIRL]

I recently graduated and I am trying to find an elementary teaching position. I am looking to move to Virginia. Does anyone by chance know of any counties they would reccommend? I have put in applications in the counties that I am familiar with but I am open to pretty much anywhere in Va. Any ideas??

[angelic1]

What part of Virginia are you thinking of moving.. that makes a difference.


I know mostly about Richmond area schools so if thats where you are thinking let me know. I can give you some more information.

[alum]

The counties near DC pay fairly well, of course the cost of living is very high. My son's teacher had just graduated with her MEd and she had to live with 2 roommates to afford Fairfax County.

[DZTUBAGIRL]

I am originally from Northern Virginia but I do not want to live there now because it is too overcrowded and too expensive. I want to move from spotsylvania county and south. I am pretty much open to anywhere other than northern va. I have put applications in westmoreland co, spotsylvania co, isle of wight co, prince william co, and king george co. Any info anyone has would be great.

[alum]

If you want to go a little farther out, people with kids regard the school systems more highly in Stafford and Louden as opposed to Prince William.

[DZTUBAGIRL]

I know what you mean about Prince William. I have family that lives there and it isn't my #1 choice. I figured it wouldn't hurt to put in an application even if it is my last choice. I have applied in Stafford but I didn't think about Louden. I will check on it. Thanks a lot.

By the way, does anyone know anything about Caroline Co? It is close to my family so I am going to apply there too. I don't know much about it though.

[angelic1]

so I guess Richmond is an option then..

if so, I would try Henrico, Hanover, Goochland, and Chesterfield counties...

I went to schools in Hanover and loved it there, hopefully when I finish the teaching program I am starting now I will get a job in Hanover. Overall all of the schools in this county are good.

My roommate works in Henrico Co. right now teaching 3-5 special Ed. So I have gotten to learn a lot about Henrico right now through her. They have some schools I think that are better than others.

Speaking of Richmond.. Mary Munford and I believe Fox are suppose to be great schools.

Goochland use to be very rural, but recently the west end of Henrico has been expanding into the county. Short Pump mall is right at its border. So if you are looking for more rural but close to things this could be an option.

Some of those schools you were looking at aren't really in areas that I would particulary want to move to right after graduating college.. are you moving back by yourself? Looking to meet other recent grads? Those are some things to consider too.

[UofISigKap]

Originally posted by DZTUBAGIRL
I recently graduated and I am trying to find an elementary teaching position. I am looking to move to Virginia. Does anyone by chance know of any counties they would reccommend? I have put in applications in the counties that I am familiar with but I am open to pretty much anywhere in Va. Any ideas??

I actually moved to Virginia when I graduated. I currently teach for Spotsy county and have for four years. I love my placement and school that I am at. Stafford and Spotsy tend to do things pretty similar since we are so close, but sometimes there are some small differences in the calendars. I haven't checked the pay difference recently, but I know that it seems to fluctuate between the two of us depending on what "step" you're at. However...the snow days are different depending on where you teach too.

[DZTUBAGIRL]

Yes I am will be moving by myself. I have family in Westmoreland and Spotsylvania counties. The reason why I picked those counties is because they are not in the middle of everything but they are close to other cities. I guess I never really thought about the fact that I should live near other people my age. I would like to make friends and such.

[AngelPhiSig]

One of my sisters lives/teaches in Prince William... she loves it. I interviewed there, but it was a little too close to DC for me.

Any heads up on PA jobs?

I need something, I cant take my job anymore!

[alum]

A young man we know just graduated with a history major, drama minor and a backup teacher certification. He actually found a dream job in Louden teaching 2 US History, 2 World History and 2 Theatre classes. Louden has one of the best pay scales for VA.