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.