23 | August | 2013 | Teaching on the Tundra

I almost cried right there. I was standing in the gym. I was watching them play. I was watching them laugh. The day was rough–could not get them to talk, to listen, to sit in a desk how you are supposed to. Oh, the difficulty that this year is going to bring. I have 13 students in three different grades. All of them on many levels. All of them with very different motivations for school. Let’s just face it for some of them…school isn’t their top priority.

(then again what middle school student LOVES school?)

I thought–OH MY GOD. I am going to do this for an entire year. This isn’t some three-day gig through outdoor education and this isn’t some week long sub job. This is my JOB. It is day one and they told me I was going to cry. “They” being the other teachers who shared some rough first day experiences.

but….I LOVE MY NEW JOB.

I stood in the gym watching them run around, shoot baskets, hide in the bleachers, and sprawl on the gym floor. These are my 13 students. These are my 13. I am a “real” teacher. I know I have said it every time I substitute and every time someone has asked me what I do for the past seven years; but this time, I have proof. These 13. I don’t have to go around blubbering about having “a piece of paper” to prove it. I have a class. This is what I have worked for so hard. This is what camp has taught me …to LOVE.

And they are so good.

It is a phrase Clint* uses. Good. He says it when he appreciates a person, when he wants to state their value. At first I was a bit taken back by the phrase. Good is such an empty adjective sometimes. People say “good-job” or “good-going” or a teacher writes “GOOD!” at the top of the paper. I have a huge preference to the adjective beautiful.

but then….I love Clint*–and when he says good! HE MEANS GOOD: They are beautiful, they are smart, they are clever, they are interesting, they hold an intrinsic value that no-one else can hold–They hold it and they let it shine in the things they do and how they do them……AND they are in my class. MINE!

They might not understand but they ask questions all the time. They might have to be told to sit in a seat, take off their hoodie-hood, and to listen when I am talking; but they apologize and learn I mean it.

They visit me after school, before school, and say hi to me on the weekends. They help me clean my room and decorate the walls. They have a great desire to be seen and heard.

I didn’t cry–-I smiled. Let’s just clear this up now. I am blown away at how much I love this “teaching thing.” It is hard work but–these are my 13 students.

Awesome.

Children, children everywhere. Love it.

*see first post on Alaska, refers to Clint as “Amazing Boyfriend.”

Whoa.

When I walked into my room I was like WHOA. This is my room? I have a room. I will have students. My students. Someone is going to pay me to do this. Then I see a smart board, piles of books, class-bathrooms, copy machine, and personal computers.

Whoa.

I had two days to set up my classroom. Now for those of you that are not teachers you are probably no pooing your pants. In fact for those of you that are new to the profession and never had to set up your own room–maybe you’re not even thinking twice. I know I didn’t sweat it—-then the night before my first three days came.

HOLY CRAP!

I don’t have names on the desks, they don’t have cubbies, I don’t have books organized, I don’t have rules printed out, I am going to need to give them folders and paper, —what?! what is that in that cupboard? Which science book do I use for a 6,7, AND 8th grade combined class?!! How do I use the lamination machine? Do I have scissors? What should I put on the walls? Where should I put my word-wall up? What kind of rules should I have? Do I need to do Homework on the first day? Where the hell do I find those Alaska Standards? Shit. Shit. Shit. Yeah, I might have had 600 mini-panic attacks.

Luckily my principal knows what it takes to set up a room. He also knows that the small amount of teachers on staff aren’t super-human–well perhaps some of them are. (not me) He stated that rooms probably wouldn’t be set up. Well, he was right. I thought I did most of the set up—but when the kids actually came into my room I realized how much more I needed to do. I still don’t have everything “golden” and I am on day–seven. I have lesson plans going. I have classroom management magic (and building on this more daily). However, the fact that I have cupboards and bookshelves that need cleaned still drives me nutty.

Here are some of the things that I did do:

Owl Reading Spots: They can place their name in the clear holder when they move to that spot. For some reason my students love the floor way more than their nice desk. I can’t hate though…I never liked to read at my desk either.

Red Light, Green Light, Yellow Light: In a red light they may not move a lesson is in progress, in a yellow light they must stay at desks to work quietly (restroom, water-fountain in room open), green light means they can go to reading spots and whisper. They can’t move if their name is on the board–this is a total bummer for some kids, they love those reading spots!!

Whole body teaching: When I say “class” they say “yes” (however I might say class…and I have so far said it like a sumo-man, a dainty grandma, and shouted it super loud), when I say Freeze they freeze, when I say mirror-words: they mirror everything I do and say. It really sounds silly but WOW. It works great.

Rules: Every time a rules is broken I refer back to the posted rules that they signed, which is also posted. I point out that even I follow the rules in my classroom.

GYM: I find what they like and I use it for reinforcement and redirection. THEY love GYM time. You would think that I am going to take their pet puppy when I take even a minute away from gym time. mwhahaha. I got my entire room clean in under 5 minutes because of this threat. Mostly because they know already that I stand by what I say. I will take their time if they take mine.

Plan ahead: I have an extra set of lessons or ideas for almost every lesson I have. It isn’t anything elaborate but it has already saved me twice. My students are sometimes more advanced than my choice or way less advanced than the book. I have decided to re-do most lessons to create something that works well for them.

The Chaos that was my room above and below.