Red Ribbon Week

At this point, I can't tell if dress up days are intended more for the students or for the teachers.

I have absolutely enjoyed all of the themes that come along with Red Ribbon Week. We had days such as western day and pink day. Part of my enjoyment came from being able to wear jeans. There's just something about not being able to wear jeans any other day that really makes weeks like this special. My jeans are not especially unique or comfortable. In fact, I have even come to be quite settled into my slacks (or whatever the pants are called that you wear to work). I still just really enjoyed the t-shirt and jeans look this week.

My favorite theme was Disney Day. I decided to wear an Ariel shirt because that is one of my favorite Disney movies (and it was one of the few Disney shirts available at Target the night before). To some of my students, this decision was a bit perplexing. Why would a man wear a princess shirt? I eavesdropped on a number of their conversations about the merits of the shirt and whether I should or should not be wearing. My favorite line from one of my students was “he’s a grown man, he bought it and he can wear what he wants.” The overall decision from my students was that it was a nice shirt and it was “okay” that I wore it.

I have certainly found that my students are very concerned with the way I dress. With Halloween approaching, there has been much discussion about costumes. I have heard ideas ranging from Pennywise, the clown from It (why any of my students have seen this movie is beyond me), to various teachers. One of my students even went so far as to declare that he would be dressing up as me for Halloween, to which one of his peers responded with "that's impossible, Mr. Smith dresses like a Ken doll". It took quite a bit of self-control to not burst into laughter at this conversation. This completely dispelled any ideas I had about students not paying attention to the way we dress and present ourselves.

Later in the week, students began reciting their favorite lines from each of their teachers. The other fifth grade teachers and I were laughing so hard at our students nearly perfect renditions of the way we spoke in our classrooms. It also reminded me of just how perceptive students are. They see way more than I realized and certainly reminded me of the importance of my positive interactions with every student.

My students also worked on (and mostly completed) a project about animal adaptations this week. It is quite possible that I learned more about changes I need to make for projects in the future than my students did about adaptions. I certainly need to refine the process of forming groups, the assignment of roles within groups, and limiting the range of topics. By leaving the groups based on tables, the level of conflict was pretty high across classes. I think this also indicates that I will need to work on developing my students’ skillset as it relates to working in groups. I gave groups tasks, but did not tell them how to complete the tasks or who should complete them. This often left one or two students sitting around and eventually pushed out of the project. I also spent far too much time allowing students to think about their choice of animal when we could have cut down on that time with a shortlist of preselected organisms form which my students could choose from.

I have learned a lot in this short time teaching, but I know I still have many skills to develop. I have been making a conscious effort to not raise my voice as often and this has required me to further refine the procedures I have in place (especially classroom entry). It has certainly required some lost content time, but I am confident that the practiced procedures will save time (and energy) in the future.

In Fort Worth, teachers do not initially have Good Friday off in the spring. In order to get this day off, we have to attend trainings either in the summer or at some point during the year. I went to a training this Saturday to get all the hours I needed to get that Friday off. I anticipated walking away with some new ideas to try out in the classroom but ended up leaving with a treasure chest. I met another fifth-grade teacher who shared with me all of his resources from the past few years that he has taught fifth grade. I am incredibly excited to explore and utilize these resources and I feel so lucky that I decided to attend this training!

This school year is truly flying by and it seems like Christmas and the New Year will be upon us soon. Thank you all for your support these past few weeks. It means a lot to hear from you! Whether they're words of encouragement, advice or strategies, questions, or just saying hello because we haven't spoke in a while, I truly enjoy hearing from you. It has certainly been quite the journey and I am looking forward to continuing to share my experiences!

Results

The first six weeks is complete, but there is literally no time to breathe!

I find myself in an odd part of the year. There is something sitting at the back of my mind that I can never seem to reach. Maybe this is just my way of going through that cycle of teaching that everyone keeps telling me about. I must be starting to make the switch from anticipation to survival. I can't tell and no one else has mentioned anything so who can know for sure.

My students did take their first major assessment with me this year and you will have to excuse me while I brag on them for a little bit. I am incredibly proud of their achievements and how much they have learned in this short time. I have a passing rate over 85% with over 20% of my students receiving perfect scores. I know this is pretty good but I certainly want to continue pushing them and pushing myself to do better. We will be working to get to 100% passing and even more getting perfect scores.

Despite these results, I feel as though I am running in circles. It feels like my to-do list never shortens. By the time I get a few items knocked off, there are just as many or more items to replace them. I literally have no idea how teacher's are expected to do so many things in day, week, semester, or year. Despite only being my students' science teacher, I must also teach them how to be polite and respectful of the world around them, and teach them how to track data and set goals, and take them on field trips, and grade their work, and do fire drills/assemblies, and attend meetings in the middle of the day, and (this hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure it will) attend trainings. And these are just the things I have to do with my students but does not include all of the behind the scenes work I have to get done. I do not yet feel overwhelmed, but I can certainly see how any slip up on my part could put me on a slippery slope into chaos and confusion.

It is going to be a great year. I am going to make sure that it is. It is going to be hard, but it needs to happen. This experience is also broadening my appreciation for all of the amazing teachers I have ever had. I knew that teaching was not easy. I knew that teachers had to balance a lot of things. I knew that students (myself included) did not always (read rarely) made things easier. Despite knowing all of those things beforehand, living them is completely different. I have not had the come home and cry kind of day yet, but I know I will. I have not started to question my life choices, and I am hoping to avoid that. I do occasionally find myself in shock that I am a real teacher in a real school with real students. I do occasionally question my ability to be the best (or at least great) for my students.

Things have been moving. I will keep moving with them, just hopefully not in circles.