Student today: "Mrs. Wallace, what's your husband's name?"
me: "Mr. Wallace"
Student: "Do you have a dog named Ms. Wallace?"
Same student later: "Mrs. Wallace can you come over to my house?"
me: "No, I have to go to my house."
Student: "Ok, can I meet you at your house at ten tonight?"
me: "No, I'll see you on Monday."
Student: "Can we meet somewhere else?"
me: "I'll meet you at school at 8:45 on Monday (that's when it starts)."
Student: "Ok, I'll meet you there!"
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
My Adventure: Teaching First Grade
Funny first grade comments:
1.) "Student: Ms. Wallace, why do you and all the other teachers have the same name?" me: "What?" her: "Ms." "Did all of your parents name you that?" lol. I wonder how many students still have this same misconception.
2.) Student: "Ms. Wallace, I wish I could live with you!" The next day I was helping this student after school and when his sister picked him up he said, "Bye, Ms. Wallace, I love you!" Then he came back a second later and said, "Ms. Wallace, can I call you?" I laughed and said no, I'll see you on Monday.
3.) We made ice cream one day and a student said, "This is the best day of my whole life!"
4.) Student: "Ms. Wallace, which world did (another student) go to on vacation?" I had to explain that earth was one world and different places were called states and cities.
5.) On the bus for a field trip as we drove past a farm, "Look, there's Old McDonald!"
My Adventure
Being a first grade teacher has been quite an adventure. When I started I meant to write something about teaching every day - either in my journal or on our blog. There are so many crazy things that happen, I would have always had something to write. Unfortunately, I would come home from school too exhausted to write a thing. So this is the second time in the 8 months I've been teaching that I've written anything. For the rest of the school year it is my goal to start documenting on a more regular basis.
This year has been a crazy roller coaster. I teach in an urban school district where 99% of the students are African American and qualify for free and reduced lunch - in other words, very poor. Many of them come from rough backgrounds and difficult homes. My school has huge discipline problems, very low test scores, and high turnover - especially for principals. My school has had 12 principals in the last 4 years. The principal I started this school year with quit in October and we currently have a temporary principal until we get yet another one next year.
As a first year teacher, there is a lot of adjusting to do as you figure out how to structure a lesson, how to structure your day, how to manage behavior ranging from students too shy to talk to students so angry they scream, kick and throw everything in sight, and knock over tables, to students who refuse to listen or do any work, ever, to students who come to school so hungry they can't focus on anything. I do have some excellent students in my class who behave very well, but I have around 8 who fall into one of these other categories. One of the things that made this first year more difficult for me was the constant changes in the structure of my class during the first 2 months of school. They are as follows.
1. Me teaching with an aid, 13 students (1 week)
2. Me teaching with a different aid, 13 students (3 weeks)
3. Classes combine, co-teaching with another teacher and 28 students. (3 days)
4. Teaching 28 students by myself for 3 days
5. My class splits, teaching 20 students with a different co-teacher (2 weeks)
6. Teaching 20 students by myself (this is how it ended up for the next 3-4 months)
7. Teaching 20 students with an aid who came ocassionally (3 weeks)
8. Currently: teaching 21 students with an amazing aid
That said, teaching has been crazy and by far the most challenging thing I have ever done. I work about 70 hours a week (sometimes more) teaching, preparing lessons, grading papers, helping students after school, going to trainings, etc. It is very draining, but rewarding. At the beginning of the year I really enjoyed it, then week by week behavior started to get worse and I started to become more stressed and worn out, and enjoyed it less and less. By Christmas, I didn't know how I could keep going, and I really wasn't enjoying being a teacher. I liked "teaching", but was so tired of the constant behavior problems causing me to fight my way through a lesson and the outside problems affecting the lives of my students and my ability to teach them. There are so many obstacles to teaching I hadn't anticipated. Being a teacher means being a nurse, a counselor, a psychiatrist, a babysitter, an actress, a secretary...Christmas was a much needed break and I came back more prepared for the second half of the year. The next month was still pretty rough, but I kept doing my best. Toward the end of January I finally started to enjoy my job again. I got a little more of a grasp on discipline, learned how to plan more quickly, and I think the students just began to behave better and have more of a desire to learn. Then in late February I got another aid in my classroom who has made all of the difference. I love teaching and being a teacher again. It is still the biggest challenge of my life, I still work close to 70 hours a week, and come home exhausted, but I love my students and I love the challenge, and it is a rewarding experience. I have learned so much this first year and am excited for next year where I will get a change to start over and implement many of the things I have learned and wished I could have started the year doing.
Despite all of the challenges to teaching, my class is doing well. As a whole, they have made 1 1/2 years in reading growth, some students increasing their reading level by 3-4 years since the beginning of the year. Even some of the students who have really struggled this year are beginning to make more progress, more quickly. Seeing the growth in these students is so exciting and motivates me to continue to put in the long hours.
1.) "Student: Ms. Wallace, why do you and all the other teachers have the same name?" me: "What?" her: "Ms." "Did all of your parents name you that?" lol. I wonder how many students still have this same misconception.
2.) Student: "Ms. Wallace, I wish I could live with you!" The next day I was helping this student after school and when his sister picked him up he said, "Bye, Ms. Wallace, I love you!" Then he came back a second later and said, "Ms. Wallace, can I call you?" I laughed and said no, I'll see you on Monday.
3.) We made ice cream one day and a student said, "This is the best day of my whole life!"
4.) Student: "Ms. Wallace, which world did (another student) go to on vacation?" I had to explain that earth was one world and different places were called states and cities.
5.) On the bus for a field trip as we drove past a farm, "Look, there's Old McDonald!"
My Adventure
Being a first grade teacher has been quite an adventure. When I started I meant to write something about teaching every day - either in my journal or on our blog. There are so many crazy things that happen, I would have always had something to write. Unfortunately, I would come home from school too exhausted to write a thing. So this is the second time in the 8 months I've been teaching that I've written anything. For the rest of the school year it is my goal to start documenting on a more regular basis.
This year has been a crazy roller coaster. I teach in an urban school district where 99% of the students are African American and qualify for free and reduced lunch - in other words, very poor. Many of them come from rough backgrounds and difficult homes. My school has huge discipline problems, very low test scores, and high turnover - especially for principals. My school has had 12 principals in the last 4 years. The principal I started this school year with quit in October and we currently have a temporary principal until we get yet another one next year.
As a first year teacher, there is a lot of adjusting to do as you figure out how to structure a lesson, how to structure your day, how to manage behavior ranging from students too shy to talk to students so angry they scream, kick and throw everything in sight, and knock over tables, to students who refuse to listen or do any work, ever, to students who come to school so hungry they can't focus on anything. I do have some excellent students in my class who behave very well, but I have around 8 who fall into one of these other categories. One of the things that made this first year more difficult for me was the constant changes in the structure of my class during the first 2 months of school. They are as follows.
1. Me teaching with an aid, 13 students (1 week)
2. Me teaching with a different aid, 13 students (3 weeks)
3. Classes combine, co-teaching with another teacher and 28 students. (3 days)
4. Teaching 28 students by myself for 3 days
5. My class splits, teaching 20 students with a different co-teacher (2 weeks)
6. Teaching 20 students by myself (this is how it ended up for the next 3-4 months)
7. Teaching 20 students with an aid who came ocassionally (3 weeks)
8. Currently: teaching 21 students with an amazing aid
That said, teaching has been crazy and by far the most challenging thing I have ever done. I work about 70 hours a week (sometimes more) teaching, preparing lessons, grading papers, helping students after school, going to trainings, etc. It is very draining, but rewarding. At the beginning of the year I really enjoyed it, then week by week behavior started to get worse and I started to become more stressed and worn out, and enjoyed it less and less. By Christmas, I didn't know how I could keep going, and I really wasn't enjoying being a teacher. I liked "teaching", but was so tired of the constant behavior problems causing me to fight my way through a lesson and the outside problems affecting the lives of my students and my ability to teach them. There are so many obstacles to teaching I hadn't anticipated. Being a teacher means being a nurse, a counselor, a psychiatrist, a babysitter, an actress, a secretary...Christmas was a much needed break and I came back more prepared for the second half of the year. The next month was still pretty rough, but I kept doing my best. Toward the end of January I finally started to enjoy my job again. I got a little more of a grasp on discipline, learned how to plan more quickly, and I think the students just began to behave better and have more of a desire to learn. Then in late February I got another aid in my classroom who has made all of the difference. I love teaching and being a teacher again. It is still the biggest challenge of my life, I still work close to 70 hours a week, and come home exhausted, but I love my students and I love the challenge, and it is a rewarding experience. I have learned so much this first year and am excited for next year where I will get a change to start over and implement many of the things I have learned and wished I could have started the year doing.
Despite all of the challenges to teaching, my class is doing well. As a whole, they have made 1 1/2 years in reading growth, some students increasing their reading level by 3-4 years since the beginning of the year. Even some of the students who have really struggled this year are beginning to make more progress, more quickly. Seeing the growth in these students is so exciting and motivates me to continue to put in the long hours.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Best. Spring. Break. Ever.
How ironic is this: in college, Michelle and I never got Spring Break because we went to BYU and for some reason unknown to me they don't do Spring Break; however, now that we are working folks we got over a week off for Spring Break! Well, the reason is because we are teachers....I think that is ironic, don't you?!? Anyways, Michelle and spent a whole week in Florida for our break. We drove down on Friday night after work and stayed in Palm Bay (closest big city is Orlando) with some good friends who live there. We absolutely love living in D.C. but the change of pace, atmosphere, scenery, and weather was very much appreciated for one week. Since we didn't even get a Spring Break in college I am not sure how much this statement means, but I can say with certainty that this was our best Spring Break ever! We did a lot of fun things, such as visit Universal Studios Orlando. Hopefully you can see how drenched we are in this picture. It was as if we jumped in a pool! Michelle and I liked this ride the most, it was called Bluto's Barge or something like that (Popeye theme). I almost forgot to mention we went on it four times.
Obligatory theme park funnel cake. Can't think of many things worse for you, but can't think of many things that taste better! This tasty funnel cake came with some extra toppings I had never had on a funnel cake before. 
The Marvel super heroes section was probably our favorite part of the park. That is a pretty big picture of old Wolvey, no? I am about as big as one of knuckles.
This is me on Storm's (from X-men) ride. The theme of the ride was that you had to spin around as fast as you could to generate enough energy to defeat Magneto. Yes...very cheesy! All the rides had really cheesy themes, some were so cheesy that you just have to laugh!
This is me on Hulk's ride. I was planning on filming the whole ride but the ride started very abruptly! It caught me off guard because instead of going slowly to the top it just blasted off! Frankly, I am lucky I didn't lose the camera because I was still getting it ready when we took off. I did manage to get some funny pictures like this one.
Harry Potter's Wizarding World (a new addition to Universal Studios that they are making) doesn't officially open for a couple more months but we were still REALLY excited to just get to see some of the parts like Hogwarts.
Look out, Michelle! That Stegasaurus (sp?) in Jurassic Park is going to get you! I know, I am lame :)
Michelle looking cute as a button on the Jurassic Park boat ride.
Us boarding the Jurassic Park boat ride. Not bad for a take-it-yourself-with-your-own-arm-extended picture.
A very lucky coincidence for us was that the Sony Ericsson Open was being played in Miami the same time that we were in Florida. Don't know what that is? That's ok, you must not be as big of tennis fans as we are. You bet your bottom dollar we went to a full day of tennis in Miami. We bought full-day tickets and got to see a lot amazing tennis. 
My man Rafael Nadal gave a lesson to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, beating him in straight sets. 
We enjoyed watching the doubles as much as the singles matches. Here I am watching an all Spain doubles quarterfinals match. Maybe it the fact that we were in Miami or the fact that there were a lot of Spanish tennis players still in the tournament the day we went, but there were more speaking Spanish than English. Its always fun to practice the old Spanish.
Bob and Mike Bryan (American twins and best doubles team of all time) in their matching outfits.
Michelle and I watching Henin and Wozniacki on center stage.
And now for the most important part of all: we got to spend four full days on some of the best beaches in the world (well, at least according to the Floridians). I don't know how you can really determine what the 'best' beaches in the world are, but I digress. We went to Cocoa Beach twice (and went to the famous Ron Jon's Surf shop in Cocoa), Daytona Beach, and Melbourne Beach. 
Yup, we were pretty much the whitest folks out there. We didn't let that bother us though, we had a great time.
Having fun with the waves. Michelle probably won't like this picture up on our blog but I think she looks cute, bracing for impact of the wave. That is our friend Juleen to her right. 
Running from the waves...or something.
Had to come up with some corny pictures on the beach.
Had so much fun, can't believe its over. Well, as long as we are teachers I guess we can do this every year!
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