Thursday, September 15, 2005
A Postulate Worth Pondering
I have been remiss in blogging of late, largely as a result of the start of the school year. Given my experience at Underwood, one would believe that I would be fully capable of handling any stressors the school, its staff, or its students might throw at me, but I constantly find myself being reminded of how very limited my imagination remains, despite its exposure to this world.
Two classrooms, for example...who would have thought that would make my life so difficult? But running back and forth, I'm constantly keeping an eye open to avoid leaving stuff behind or being late to the other side of the building (and down the stairs) after first period.
Things are only rendered more complicated by the continued presence of my advisory, which I had been told might be disappearing by the end of this week. But they're still there. Every morning. And they keep putting new kids in! Almost two full weeks in and kids are still lining up to register. We're running short on teachers and they keep coming. Lemmings over a cliff, lambs the slaughter...pick your animal metaphor and run with it. It's cool. We've got plenty.
As for my classroom management problems, they're still there, although I have at least two pretty good classes. The real problem of late has been the weather. The heat and humidity has made things practically unbearable throughout the building, but in my rooms (with no fan or A/C to speak of), it's murder. Students are actually walking out of class because it's slightly cooler in the hallways than in my room. I had a parent request to be called today to check on the climate situation in my room...not how her daughter was doing.
I'm not actively seeking out fans of any variety, because I feel like they just tend to promote more whining. Kids near a fan seem to get preferential treatment leading kids far away to whine and bitch and moan just as much as if there were no fan in the first place. To be blunt, the weather needs to change before I can get some serious teaching done.
But even then there may be some classes I can't reach. I was, and to a lesser extent, still am concerned about this, especially since my in-class control determines to some degree my general satisfaction with my job. But, I take comfort in an e-mail from a teaching colleague which I received recently in the InvisiblE-mail from a fellow teacher. He notes that I appear to be suffering from the "The Class From Hell" Postulate.
To wit: "Every semester, you have five classes, four will be mediocre to good and one will make you want to shoot yourself."
Based on further discussions with other colleagues, working in a variety of teaching jobs, this postulate seems to hold true across the board regardless of grade level, subject, or socioeconomic factors. The key, it seems (and my colleague reiterated in his note) is to pin down the ringleader (s) in the mediocre/painful classes and seize control back from them. It's a tricky business...but it seems the only way.
Anyhow, it's getting late, so I must get to bed. More blogging soon.
I have been remiss in blogging of late, largely as a result of the start of the school year. Given my experience at Underwood, one would believe that I would be fully capable of handling any stressors the school, its staff, or its students might throw at me, but I constantly find myself being reminded of how very limited my imagination remains, despite its exposure to this world.
Two classrooms, for example...who would have thought that would make my life so difficult? But running back and forth, I'm constantly keeping an eye open to avoid leaving stuff behind or being late to the other side of the building (and down the stairs) after first period.
Things are only rendered more complicated by the continued presence of my advisory, which I had been told might be disappearing by the end of this week. But they're still there. Every morning. And they keep putting new kids in! Almost two full weeks in and kids are still lining up to register. We're running short on teachers and they keep coming. Lemmings over a cliff, lambs the slaughter...pick your animal metaphor and run with it. It's cool. We've got plenty.
As for my classroom management problems, they're still there, although I have at least two pretty good classes. The real problem of late has been the weather. The heat and humidity has made things practically unbearable throughout the building, but in my rooms (with no fan or A/C to speak of), it's murder. Students are actually walking out of class because it's slightly cooler in the hallways than in my room. I had a parent request to be called today to check on the climate situation in my room...not how her daughter was doing.
I'm not actively seeking out fans of any variety, because I feel like they just tend to promote more whining. Kids near a fan seem to get preferential treatment leading kids far away to whine and bitch and moan just as much as if there were no fan in the first place. To be blunt, the weather needs to change before I can get some serious teaching done.
But even then there may be some classes I can't reach. I was, and to a lesser extent, still am concerned about this, especially since my in-class control determines to some degree my general satisfaction with my job. But, I take comfort in an e-mail from a teaching colleague which I received recently in the InvisiblE-mail from a fellow teacher. He notes that I appear to be suffering from the "The Class From Hell" Postulate.
To wit: "Every semester, you have five classes, four will be mediocre to good and one will make you want to shoot yourself."
Based on further discussions with other colleagues, working in a variety of teaching jobs, this postulate seems to hold true across the board regardless of grade level, subject, or socioeconomic factors. The key, it seems (and my colleague reiterated in his note) is to pin down the ringleader (s) in the mediocre/painful classes and seize control back from them. It's a tricky business...but it seems the only way.
Anyhow, it's getting late, so I must get to bed. More blogging soon.
