Pam's Junior High Teaching Blog

School starts the day after tomorrow!!

2008-08-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

I have been working in my classroom all week and have just had time to really think about how things are going. It's fairly overwhelming to be brand new again at a school , especially when I've been used to being a leader within my school. I don't like the part about not knowing where things are, how to get things done, who to call when my computer breaks, and not knowing the curriculum as well as I'd like. I'm working in a department of very nice people, but at the same time I'm not included in discussions because they assume I don't know or don't care what they are doing yet. I have to laugh and remember that in my first teaching job, no one spoke to me for the first 6 months. That's a slight exaggeration, but really really slight. This isn't unusual, it's just not fun.

I feel somewhat ready to start the school year. I feel more ready than I thought I would at this point. My biggest concern of course is behavior. I'm teaching 8th graders and I really want to connect with them, but everyone has so freaked me out about behavior expectations that I feel the need to be really tough at first.

My classroom

2008-08-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

So I saw my new classroom for the first time last week. The good news is it's in the actual building and it's near the other 8th grade teachers. The bad news. It has no technology. Seriously, NO technology. When I saw that there were no student computers, I asked the principal if there would be computers for the students in the room. His response "Why? Did you want one?" When I said yes (uh, ONE?), he said he would see if there were any extras around, and if so he'd try to get me (yes...) ONE.

Okay, so I'm trying to be positive about this, but I'm not sure how I'm going to do some of the things I've gotten used to doing with my classes. I've even started looking up the price of LCD projectors on Ebay. Although, I'm open to suggestions...

Motivating Junior High Students

2008-07-29T13:33:00.001-07:00

So, today, I went to a half day workshop on motivating junior high students. It was... long. Well, there were some good ideas presented, but a lot of it was stuff that I found to be questionable. Then again, I am an Alfie Kohn disciple and so some of it was just hard to listen to. One guy, whom I actually sort of liked, suggested giving your class marks on the board (as a group) for bad behavior. If they get 3 of those marks, the whole class gets punishment homework. The thing is, everyone was thinking this is a good idea and I was sitting there wondering how he could possibly justify that in his head, even if you believe in punishments and rewards.

The thing is, I believe that I'm going to have to make some changes this year, at least this year as I get used to teaching Junior High kids. I guess we'll see. I'm hoping, however, that I won't have to go quite that far.

On another note, there was an earthquake during the workshop to liven things up a bit.

Tomorrow

2008-07-28T19:29:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my first day in my new school district. I am doing a half day workshop on motivating junior high students. While I'm ready for school to start, it is weird for me to think of school starting, mostly because it makes my new little life in Bakersfield seem more real. This past month has been really strange, being in a new house, in a new city with no responsibilities. Nothing seems quite real yet. This week I'm doing a few more real things, like the workshop, going to the dentist, etc. You know, adult stuff.

Now, I just need to see what exactly I need to do to motivate these junior high students...

A week and a half before school starts

2008-07-27T13:10:00.001-07:00

So, I decided to write this blog because as I transition from teaching elementary school to teaching junior high, I have gotten lots of comments about how I must be crazy to teach junior high kids. I know that it's a tough age, and I don't have any illusions that this first year teaching junior high is going to be a piece of cake. I am excited, however, for several reasons. I am psyched to be able to focus on just one subject, and hopefully to get really good at teaching that one subject. I have always enjoyed Language Arts most of everything I teach, and it's exciting for me to be able to do that all day long. I love reading and good literature and I'm hoping that some part of my day will get to be sharing that love with my students.

I have to say I'm also looking forward to not teaching in the inner city this year. I actually live relatively close to my new school (about 15 minutes away) and I'm looking forward to that commute, as well. I'm hoping that the difficulty of this age of students will be combatted by the fact that these kids haven't grown up in the hood and won't be quite so needy. I loved my kids, but my last group especially has had a lot of special needs, more than I felt that I was able to effectively deal with.

I've decided to keep this blog so I can really chart how things are going and what I really think of this new move. I have a week and a half until I have to report to work, although it's not accurate to say that it's a week until school starts. School doesn't start until August 18th. I keep saying that I wish I could skip ahead to October when I know the routine, know my kids and have some time under my belt. If only things worked that way...