First day of school! (4th year)

I just looked at the date of my last entry - yikes. Clearly grad school has taken a toll on my blog updates.

Today was the first day of my 4th year of teaching. Wow. I don't know where the years have gone. It's crazy to think that yesterday was the 4th time I attended 7th grade day and helped my little 7th graders feel comfortable at school.

This year will be full of new experiences. I am still teaching four Resource Learning classes, but I am only teaching one Writing Skills class and I am teaching a co-taught Math 7 class. I'm most nervous about the math class. I have never taught math, and this is a general education math class. Yikes. I think I could teach a math class (that is not the nerve-racking part), but learning to coordinate and cooperate with another teacher can be difficult. The math teacher I am co-teaching with taught special ed for 17 years and has been teaching general ed for 10 years. He has a LOT of experience. Still, we have different perspectives on some things and we have different teaching styles. This will be an interesting experience for sure. I really like him though. Today was our first day really teaching a class "together" (we haven't quite figured out how we will run the class together) and he made me laugh out loud a couple of times. The kids seem to like him. :)

I'm down from two Writing Skills classes to one. That means I have more students in my one Writing Skills class. Writing is such a critical skill. I actually love teaching writing, but writing is hard for these kids and they need some serious intervention and the more help in the class, the better. So, I'm a little concerned about the larger class size, but I should have an aide. I just need to figure out a system that differentiates instruction so that all students can get the support they need.

I will also be conducting research for my thesis this semester. Fortunately it will be conducted at my school, so I don't have to worry about travel. I'm really excited for my research, but I have not figured out all of the details yet, and I'm supposed to begin research in about two weeks. It looks like I have my work cut out for me!

FUNNY MOMENTS THUS FAR:

• One little 7th grader (I actually had his brother a couple of years ago) is in a couple of my classes along with my wolf pack. In wolf pack today, he raised his hand and said, "Ms. Damron - can you tell the kids around me to stop making me so tired?" That's not word-for-word, but it was so random. This kid will be full of stories. Let me tell you. 
• Another girl in my wolf pack asked me if I knew a female student named XXX. I said yes, I had her a couple of years ago. She replied, "She's my sister. And she didn't like you very much." I paused when she said that she was her sister, and this student took that to mean that I didn't particularly like this student either. It's not that I didn't like this previous student, but she was a bit complainy, so that is part of the reason we didn't get a long. I hope rumors aren't being spread about how I feel about this student. Yikes. 
• I gave my students a "True/False Quiz About Ms. Damron" worksheet and then had them write three T/F questions about themselves on the back. One student (who was wearing glasses), wrote, "I don't wear glasses." That was the only question he could come up with. I gave him the look and said, "Come on! You can do better than that." He said, "I don't know!" I really didn't even know what to say after that. Another student wrote some interesting facts: "T/F - I have been to Mars." and "T/F I participated in World War III." Of course. 

Those are just the beginnings. Ms. Damron's classroom has begun full-throttle again! Bring on a good year. :)

-Ms. Damron-

Last Student Teacher Standing

One of my good science teacher friends told me that her student teacher quit a couple of days ago. This science teacher had been providing a lot of in-class support because the student teacher seemed to be struggling a lot. After the student teacher's first day on her own, she went home and had an anxiety attack over classroom management, texted the science teacher the next day saying she was sick, then left the program. She left this science teacher with very little warning or preparation, so she had to pick up lessons without any preparation. Crazy stuff.

We were at a professional development this afternoon when the teacher told me this, and my student teacher was sitting at the table with us. When we were walking back to the classroom, she said, "It seems like the student teachers are all disappearing!" I jokingly told her it seemed like some sort of contest: "LAST STUDENT TEACHER STANDING." Yikes! My student teacher told me that she was freaked out the first week she was here (during the observation stage - not when she was teaching). She confessed that she did go home and cry. Awe! Poor Emily! She told me that it got a lot better after that and she realized that she can't take behaviors home with her - she needs to leave those kind of things at school.

I have a hard time reading her some times because she doesn't show emotion the same way I do (which is basically written all over my face and portrayed in my every action). Hopefully she's happy and enjoying her time here! I just hope I am being helpful and supportive. Regardless - I am loving having a student teacher! I have been able to do homework at school, which is pretty convenient these days!

-Ms. Damron-

"It's because they're scared of you."

I was talking to Emily, my student teacher, as we were walking to our cars after school yesterday. I told her that I have been thinking about requesting winter semester student teachers for the future. I don't even know if I'm signed up to get one after this or if I can request a time to get one, but I have good reasoning! I told Emily that teaching the students for a whole semester allows me to build strong relationships with them and train them according to my rules. They know what is expected in my class, which hopefully allows for an easier transition when a student teacher comes. (It also ensures that things don't get wildly out of hand.) Emily laughed and told me that the students certainly act differently when I'm in the class compared to when I'm not. Apparently they behave better when I'm there. I laughed, but her response was, "They're scared of you."

Um - Emily totally made my day.

I feel like I have finally reached SUPER TEACHER status. I'm not an advocate for being scary or mean, and honestly, I don't think "scared" is the right term to use. Frankly, most of my students really like me! They frequently come up to me to show me their grades and tell me what is going on in their lives. Several times when I've walked in at the end of a period, they have said, "Where have you been Ms. Damron?!" Also (although I feel bad when they say this around Emily), they have asked me when I will be teaching again. Cute. [FYI - not many students ask that. Emily is doing great, and the students like her and respond well. So great.]

Back to the "scared" part though. I do feel satisfaction when I know that my class is well run, and my students behave well. I don't have a lot of the behavior issues that some other teachers have, and I think that deals largely in part with building strong, positive relationships and having good classroom management. Also, I think that this is evidence that people can change and grow. I was most definitely not this confident and capable my first year and I'm better than I was last year. Learning good classroom management takes time and I am still learning tricks and procedures that work.

One more "scared of me" story though. This morning, I was in the hall getting water when the bell rang for first period. I turned around to go back to my classroom and I spotted two of my 8th grade students (who I had last year) at the end of the hall talking to friends and goofing off. Excuse me - but THE BELL JUST RANG. I called their names and demanded that they come stand against the wall so I could talk to them. They sauntered over and I told them that some "shaming" needed to happen. I reamed into them for a few minutes and the conversation went something like this:

"The bell just rang for 1st period. Why are you not in class? Do you think the bells don't apply to you? Because they do. You are not acting appropriately and frankly, that's not okay. I have a lot of free time on my hands these days, and if you need an escort to get to class on time, I am fine with escorting you to your classes. It's going to be embarrassing because there is no need for you to be escorted to class. You should be able to get to class on time! Do you think so little of my class that you don't think you need to be on time? That's disrespectful and you had better start getting to my class on time."

When I marched them back into my classroom, the girl told the boy, "She scares me." I glanced back and said, "Good. I'm glad I scare you!"

For a little disclaimer, I really like these two students and they are actually great kids. For some reason though, they really don't think they need to get to class on time and it's a big issue for multiple classes. We get along pretty well though. I was curious what their attitudes would be toward me later. Near the end of the period, I called the boy back to my desk to ask him about missing assignments because he was failing my class. I made some sort of remark like, "Dude. What is going on?! You don't hand in anything and I have to literally tell you what to write on your paper to get points. Do you not listen during class?!" He replied, "No…man. I love this class." I laughed and said, "Even after I get mad at you for not being on time to my class, you still like this class?" He simply said, "Yeah."

Here's the take home message friends: build relationships with your students and hold them to high standards. Don't be afraid to call them out, because often, they will see the justification in your acts.

So cool.
I love my job. I love teaching. I especially love my students.

-Ms. Damron-

Student Teacher AWESOME-NESS

It has been WAY too long since I've written, but I am sitting in my team room sipping hot chocolate during 6th period. Having a student teacher may be the best thing to happen this winter!

When I first read the email saying I would get a student teacher, I had gotten in a car accident that day and was quite frazzled. I think I just laughed. It was near the end of May (last year) when I got the email and I was in our team room telling my car accident story when my principal walked in and asked if I had heard the news. I laughed and said yes, but I didn't think I was able to get a student teacher because I don't teach the CRUCIAL SpEd classes (math and reading). I do teach Writing, but Resource Learning (study skills/homework help) is not a common class. Due to my questions about whether or not I was even able to have a student teacher, I didn't get my hopes up.

My student teacher started volunteering last semester (just a couple of hours here and there) and I got more and more excited! I'm pretty sure she got more and more nervous because she wanted to student teach elementary, but she got middle school. Yikes! Elementary and middle school behaviors are extremely different and I have some tough kids. She's a trooper though.

A few funny things that happened last semester:

A male student asked Ms. Han, "Are you going to leave us?" She was a bit confused, so he clarified, "Everyone who comes in here ends up leaving." He was referring to the volunteers that come and then leave when their hours are done. We both smiled and said something vague like, "I don't know. We will see…"

Another student asked, "Why don't you get a student teacher? Everyone else has student teachers?" Ms. Han was in my classroom when he asked that. We both smiled secretively to each other.

I didn't want to tell my students that we were getting a student teacher because I didn't know how they would react. I experimented on my 1st period and told them that I was going to get a student teacher after Christmas and they wigged out! Some of the comments included,

"Will you still be here?"
"Is she from BYU? People from BYU are evil."
"Is she Asian?"

I died laughing at the last one because unbeknownst to them, she is Asian! haha She is Korean and she's awesome.  After the blow up in 1st period, I decided against telling any of my other classes, so it was a surprise when I announced that I would have a student teacher!

Today is her first day teaching ALL class periods and I'm loving it. I miss teaching though. I truly do love teaching and I adore my students. I have worked hard to build relationships with them and I work hard to teach them meaningful, useful things. I miss teaching them, but it is fun to see Ms. Han teach. I really enjoy mentoring. I don't know if I could ever leave teaching and just become a mentor though. I seriously LOVE-LOVE-LOVE the students. Good thing Ms. Han is awesome. If she was…weird or terrible, I would have a hard time giving up my students to her!

-Ms. Damron-

Sweet moments

There are DEFINITELY rough days in teaching, but there are those sweet moments that make it worth it. I must have had a really good week in October because these two quotes came from male students in my 1st and 2nd period classes:

"I like this class - it's like my only favorite class. It starts us off right." (10/21/13)

"At least one teacher notices us…most teachers don't like us - but you actually like it when we're working." (10/18/13)

At the end of 4th period yesterday, another male student said, "I really like this class. We can do homework."

I hope I can continue to create a safe, fun, but productive environment for my students. It really does make a difference.

-Ms. Damron-

Christmas Gifts

Christmas break is HERE!!! I am beyond excited, yet it doesn't quite seem real. I have really been looking forward to the gift exchange that happens among faculty members. Why have I been so excited? Because I made the most DARLING pinecone Christmas trees. I got the idea from Pinterest, and after chatting with a friend about making Christmas crafts, we decided to get together and make these:

I successfully made 15 and they were a hit! I gave cookies to the gentlemen friends (I didn't think they would appreciate them as much), but I was seriously so excited to give them away. The endeavor took about 5 hours total, but it was worth it. I love exploring my crafty side!

-Ms. Damron-

"If girls are ugly…they get make up."

I adore my students. They make me laugh and they truly say the funniest things. A couple of weeks ago, I had a male student look at me and say, "Do you know what's not fair? If a girl is ugly, she can just put on make up. If a guy is ugly…he gets nothing! There is no way to fix it. Girls can fake it, but guys can't."

This boy is darling and has cool glasses, a clear complexion, and some great looking dark hair. He couldn't have been referring to himself!

Also, as is typical for this particular student, the comment came out of the blue, and was likely while I was mid-sentence.

It's the little things in life, right?

-Ms. Damron-