I found out today that a parent called the science and math director to complain about me. Well, it was sort of about me. Apparently this person's child went home and told his/her parent's that an unqualified person was teaching them math, that this person's lesson plans were repetitive, and that the real teacher was never coming back. Let's set the record straight. I am not necessarily math certified, but I've certainly taken enough math classes in my life to make me qualified enough. You can't blame the lessons on me since I'm simply the messenger of the actual teacher's plans (got a problem with them, email him!). I have no idea if/when the real teacher will return and have told the students that he could return tomorrow or in April. I have still not been told why the teacher is out and have communicated that to the students.
The director had predicted that parents would be unhappy and she was right.
I've been told that a math certified person has been chosen and that this person has to pass an interview with the Assistant Superintendent and will subsequently replace me. To be honest, math class isn't too bad and I'd stay if people weren't complaining.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Parallelograms
As it turns out, I'll be subbing for the math teacher all week. It's a little scary, but I found out today that they found a math certified sub who is willing to take over the class in the near future. It seems like the original teacher will be out for the rest of the year, but the administration is so vague it's hard to tell. Even though I'll be done subbing for this particular math teacher on Friday (or so it seems), I will be doing a week-long position for a different high school math teacher all of next week.
This teacher's classes are really pleasant to sub for. I even got to joke around in class today (the kids were making fun of me for not seeing the new Mean Girls movie and I told them I didn't have cable TV - they were apalled). They work when asked, and work individually without talking when asked. It's really amazing! As compared to my standard level kids in biology, these honors level kids are much more respectful. I even have some of the kids from my old biology classes in these math classes and they are so much nicer!
We started parallelograms today, which was actually an easy topic for me. Whereas, in algebra we did compound inequalities (-3 < 4x -1 < 6) and I really don't think I did a great job explaining it. This is the hard part about teaching math for me - I can't explain it well. I just know how to do the problems, not how to explain them.
Overall I'm happy I keep getting hired for long-term positions even if they aren't in my favorite subjects. I have to apologize if this isn't the most well-written blog post ever - I'm watching a movie at the moment :).
This teacher's classes are really pleasant to sub for. I even got to joke around in class today (the kids were making fun of me for not seeing the new Mean Girls movie and I told them I didn't have cable TV - they were apalled). They work when asked, and work individually without talking when asked. It's really amazing! As compared to my standard level kids in biology, these honors level kids are much more respectful. I even have some of the kids from my old biology classes in these math classes and they are so much nicer!
We started parallelograms today, which was actually an easy topic for me. Whereas, in algebra we did compound inequalities (-3 < 4x -1 < 6) and I really don't think I did a great job explaining it. This is the hard part about teaching math for me - I can't explain it well. I just know how to do the problems, not how to explain them.
Overall I'm happy I keep getting hired for long-term positions even if they aren't in my favorite subjects. I have to apologize if this isn't the most well-written blog post ever - I'm watching a movie at the moment :).
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Congruent Triangle?
I was contacted by the math and science department director at an obscenely early hour yesterday morning. She wanted to know if I could be a math teacher for the week. I said sure.
How hard could high school math be? I definitely understand algebra. Geometry, not so much, but it should be easy by now, right? I remember thinking I'd be really good at geometry in high school and then finding it really difficult. Today was even more difficult because I was thrown into the teaching position with almost no lesson plan. Apparently whatever is going on with this teacher happened suddenly. His lesson plan book is completely empty for the week with the exception of some problems for the algebra class and a geometry worksheet. Going into a subbing position with no plan is highly dangerous and I was a little worried.
The day actually went pretty well. The algebra kids are learning about inequalities - I've got that under control. The geometry kids are doing proofs, triangles, things like that. I don't really remember that stuff but at least I had a worksheet. The department director told me not to use the worksheet and gave me problems for the kids (I'm not sure why she decided to overrule the actual teacher) and it turned out the kids had already completed those book problems. Of course, 3rd and 4th period didn't tell me this. In fact, they showed me the old problems they had already completed and since I thought they were doing their homework they got away with doing practically nothing for 30 minutes. I didn't find out this little factoid until 5th period, and that was my last class. I will definitely assign the first two periods more work for tomorrow and tell them why they're being "punished". Little turds.
I can tell that I'm a much better biology teacher. I have a lot more background knowledge and I can explain things much better. I know how to do math problems but I can't explain how to do them or why to do them in certain ways. You just solve for x, right? I can't tell you why.
As an aside, why the heck are all high school girls obsessed with Victoria's Secret? I've never seen any other age group wear so much VS! They all have giant tote bags with PINK or SECRET or GLAM written on the sides. At least one girl in every class, every day, is wearing a sweatshirt or t-shirt that says LOVE PINK or VICTORIA'S SECRET. I've seen way too many skinny butts with PINK written on them. The obsession is a little too much for me.
How hard could high school math be? I definitely understand algebra. Geometry, not so much, but it should be easy by now, right? I remember thinking I'd be really good at geometry in high school and then finding it really difficult. Today was even more difficult because I was thrown into the teaching position with almost no lesson plan. Apparently whatever is going on with this teacher happened suddenly. His lesson plan book is completely empty for the week with the exception of some problems for the algebra class and a geometry worksheet. Going into a subbing position with no plan is highly dangerous and I was a little worried.
The day actually went pretty well. The algebra kids are learning about inequalities - I've got that under control. The geometry kids are doing proofs, triangles, things like that. I don't really remember that stuff but at least I had a worksheet. The department director told me not to use the worksheet and gave me problems for the kids (I'm not sure why she decided to overrule the actual teacher) and it turned out the kids had already completed those book problems. Of course, 3rd and 4th period didn't tell me this. In fact, they showed me the old problems they had already completed and since I thought they were doing their homework they got away with doing practically nothing for 30 minutes. I didn't find out this little factoid until 5th period, and that was my last class. I will definitely assign the first two periods more work for tomorrow and tell them why they're being "punished". Little turds.
I can tell that I'm a much better biology teacher. I have a lot more background knowledge and I can explain things much better. I know how to do math problems but I can't explain how to do them or why to do them in certain ways. You just solve for x, right? I can't tell you why.
As an aside, why the heck are all high school girls obsessed with Victoria's Secret? I've never seen any other age group wear so much VS! They all have giant tote bags with PINK or SECRET or GLAM written on the sides. At least one girl in every class, every day, is wearing a sweatshirt or t-shirt that says LOVE PINK or VICTORIA'S SECRET. I've seen way too many skinny butts with PINK written on them. The obsession is a little too much for me.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Last Day
My last day as a high school science teacher was Friday. I can say with 99% certainty that full-time teaching is not for me. I could do it if all of the kids were motivated. The kids who don't care bring me down every day. I can't "love them all", as they say.
Anyway, the teacher was with me for the last day (actually, I was with the teacher). She was so happy to have me there because she knows they are all going to complain loudly that I was terrible, blah blah blah, and she didn't want to deal with that just yet. So the kids were happily surprised to see her and kept the complaints in their heads.
I went over all of the class details - who was a pain in the rear, who did well, who had a lot of absences, etc. I caught her up on the material and how far we'd gotten. She was happy to see my grade book and lesson plans nicely organized and ready for her to take over. I love being organized :). I had a nice last lunch with the other teachers. They were all so nice and helpful, giving me tips on classroom management and how to deal with certain issues. It was a nice four weeks of camaraderie and now I'm back to the daily (solitary) grind.
But wait! I got an email this morning at 7:15am - the high school needs a long term substitute for a math teacher and they want me to sub in all week while they look for a person licensed in math! So I get to stay at the lovely pay rate and short commute.
I'll be seeing y'all in math class!
Anyway, the teacher was with me for the last day (actually, I was with the teacher). She was so happy to have me there because she knows they are all going to complain loudly that I was terrible, blah blah blah, and she didn't want to deal with that just yet. So the kids were happily surprised to see her and kept the complaints in their heads.
I went over all of the class details - who was a pain in the rear, who did well, who had a lot of absences, etc. I caught her up on the material and how far we'd gotten. She was happy to see my grade book and lesson plans nicely organized and ready for her to take over. I love being organized :). I had a nice last lunch with the other teachers. They were all so nice and helpful, giving me tips on classroom management and how to deal with certain issues. It was a nice four weeks of camaraderie and now I'm back to the daily (solitary) grind.
But wait! I got an email this morning at 7:15am - the high school needs a long term substitute for a math teacher and they want me to sub in all week while they look for a person licensed in math! So I get to stay at the lovely pay rate and short commute.
I'll be seeing y'all in math class!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Monday
First, I should say that I'm flattered. It's really cool to know that there are people out there waiting for me to share a new post. The fact that these people are all close friends and family may make the sample a bit biased, but I'm still glad to hear that people are interested!
As far as Monday goes, it's a rather calm day. For the most part students are still sleeping. I always think to myself, "Don't you kids realize why you do poorly on quizzes and tests?" They barely take in a word I say and half-ass the in-class assignments. Particularly in second and fourth periods. The motivation level is so low in these two periods, I don't know how they manage to pass any classes. I'm a little appalled at their grades.
In particular there are several students who clearly have the smarts but do not have the work ethic. I wish they would commit themselves for an extra 10 minutes a day. The improvement in their grades would be enormous.
I also don't understand what these kids are doing after school. Perhaps 50% turn in homework on a regular basis. It's no wonder they have C's and D's! I'm not giving them a lot of stuff to do at home. They had all weekend to complete a short worksheet and many of them "forgot" to do it. Unbelievable. I forget that I was always in advanced track classes with kids who were crazy about good grades. I almost never forgot to do homework! I've never been confronted with so-called slackers before and they drive me up the wall.
On a positive note, I think I'm getting better at "lecturing". I try to talk about the material a little bit so the students don't feel like all they do is read and take notes. And I've been throwing in really cool videos too. All in all I'm getting better at anticipating problems and explaining things.
As far as Monday goes, it's a rather calm day. For the most part students are still sleeping. I always think to myself, "Don't you kids realize why you do poorly on quizzes and tests?" They barely take in a word I say and half-ass the in-class assignments. Particularly in second and fourth periods. The motivation level is so low in these two periods, I don't know how they manage to pass any classes. I'm a little appalled at their grades.
In particular there are several students who clearly have the smarts but do not have the work ethic. I wish they would commit themselves for an extra 10 minutes a day. The improvement in their grades would be enormous.
I also don't understand what these kids are doing after school. Perhaps 50% turn in homework on a regular basis. It's no wonder they have C's and D's! I'm not giving them a lot of stuff to do at home. They had all weekend to complete a short worksheet and many of them "forgot" to do it. Unbelievable. I forget that I was always in advanced track classes with kids who were crazy about good grades. I almost never forgot to do homework! I've never been confronted with so-called slackers before and they drive me up the wall.
On a positive note, I think I'm getting better at "lecturing". I try to talk about the material a little bit so the students don't feel like all they do is read and take notes. And I've been throwing in really cool videos too. All in all I'm getting better at anticipating problems and explaining things.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
The High School Experience
I'm being constantly chastised for not continuing to blog. Who knew I could be so popular? So I'm doing everyone a favor and writing an update on my long term position.
So, my first two weeks were the last two weeks before winter break. The kids were pretty sad about losing their teacher and not ready to have a substitute. Unfortunately for me (and for them) I can't be the really cool substitute who is really lax about stuff. That sets the wrong tone because things only relax from the starting point. If I started low on the strictness scale, I'd be screwed later on. So of course they weren't happy when I had rules and regulations. The kids who were bound to hate me definitely hate me at this point. However, the majority of my students are just fine with me in the classroom.
Second period is extremely quiet. They are clearly still asleep and glide through class periods, no questions or comments about the material. There is a group of four sitting in the front right who do not do a thing. The two boys in the front row are smart kids, they get stuff right on tests and quizzes, but they won't do a thing in class unless I remind them to keep working every minute. The boy and girl behind them are flying just below the level of disrespect. They don't do a thing and keep up a running conversation that never has anything to do with biology. They don't do classwork and don't do well on the tests. The boy can be particularly rude.
Third period bounces into the classroom all smiles. They are a wonderful class as far as attitude. One boy has a million questions but I think he helps the rest of the class by having the guts to ask them. He's clearly respected by his peers so he gets them all thinking about the material every time he asks a question. There are some chatting issues but I quelled them with seat changes. As long as I keep reminding them this class tends to get things done.
Fourth period is surly. They are not into biology, or school. They don't want to be in class and make that clear every day. There are a few nice kids who are interested and get good grades but mostly these kids have a bad attitude. I have to remind them over and over to keep working because they fall into conversation much too easily. I wish they'd be more cheerful, because they wear me out.
I do not enjoy sixth period. I have freshman physics and they are out of control. They continue to talk no matter my anger level. I've tried every method I can think of to get them paying attention. I talk and they keep talking. I hate the disrespect and I'm exhausted by the end of class just trying to keep myself in control. One girl in particular, G, drives me up the wall with her attitude. This is a classic G stunt: everyone has to be sitting in their assigned seats to leave class. G kneels in her chair, she doesn't sit. The bell rings. Everyone tries to get up but I say, "Nope, not everyone is sitting". All the kids look around and I look right at G. She says, "I am sitting!". I say, "No, you're kneeling. No one can leave until everyone in the room sits in their assigned seat." She continues to argue, I continue to say "sit". She finally says, "Oh my God, this is ridiculous" in the most exasperated tone she can muster and sits down. The class leaves.
My other problem child is L. L really wants to keep playing for the basketball team but isn't getting a high enough grade. I'm willing to work it out with him so I told him to meet me after school to talk about it and he said okay. He didn't show. I figure, if he doesn't care enough to show up then he doesn't need me to figure out a passing grade for him.
Every day is a constant battle with some kids and my patience is gone. So far I haven't really snapped but I'm going to one day and it will be bad.
Thank goodness there are nice kids in each class!
So, my first two weeks were the last two weeks before winter break. The kids were pretty sad about losing their teacher and not ready to have a substitute. Unfortunately for me (and for them) I can't be the really cool substitute who is really lax about stuff. That sets the wrong tone because things only relax from the starting point. If I started low on the strictness scale, I'd be screwed later on. So of course they weren't happy when I had rules and regulations. The kids who were bound to hate me definitely hate me at this point. However, the majority of my students are just fine with me in the classroom.
Second period is extremely quiet. They are clearly still asleep and glide through class periods, no questions or comments about the material. There is a group of four sitting in the front right who do not do a thing. The two boys in the front row are smart kids, they get stuff right on tests and quizzes, but they won't do a thing in class unless I remind them to keep working every minute. The boy and girl behind them are flying just below the level of disrespect. They don't do a thing and keep up a running conversation that never has anything to do with biology. They don't do classwork and don't do well on the tests. The boy can be particularly rude.
Third period bounces into the classroom all smiles. They are a wonderful class as far as attitude. One boy has a million questions but I think he helps the rest of the class by having the guts to ask them. He's clearly respected by his peers so he gets them all thinking about the material every time he asks a question. There are some chatting issues but I quelled them with seat changes. As long as I keep reminding them this class tends to get things done.
Fourth period is surly. They are not into biology, or school. They don't want to be in class and make that clear every day. There are a few nice kids who are interested and get good grades but mostly these kids have a bad attitude. I have to remind them over and over to keep working because they fall into conversation much too easily. I wish they'd be more cheerful, because they wear me out.
I do not enjoy sixth period. I have freshman physics and they are out of control. They continue to talk no matter my anger level. I've tried every method I can think of to get them paying attention. I talk and they keep talking. I hate the disrespect and I'm exhausted by the end of class just trying to keep myself in control. One girl in particular, G, drives me up the wall with her attitude. This is a classic G stunt: everyone has to be sitting in their assigned seats to leave class. G kneels in her chair, she doesn't sit. The bell rings. Everyone tries to get up but I say, "Nope, not everyone is sitting". All the kids look around and I look right at G. She says, "I am sitting!". I say, "No, you're kneeling. No one can leave until everyone in the room sits in their assigned seat." She continues to argue, I continue to say "sit". She finally says, "Oh my God, this is ridiculous" in the most exasperated tone she can muster and sits down. The class leaves.
My other problem child is L. L really wants to keep playing for the basketball team but isn't getting a high enough grade. I'm willing to work it out with him so I told him to meet me after school to talk about it and he said okay. He didn't show. I figure, if he doesn't care enough to show up then he doesn't need me to figure out a passing grade for him.
Every day is a constant battle with some kids and my patience is gone. So far I haven't really snapped but I'm going to one day and it will be bad.
Thank goodness there are nice kids in each class!
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