Monday, May 05, 2008

The dumps, and being down in them

The other day in my reading and writing lab we went over subject/verb agreement, and then as an informal assessment of the students' understanding I asked them to write a little story in which they played around with the S/V rule by using it both correctly and incorrectly. When I was grading them this morning I saw that one student had written this:
This IS such a boring class. July [sic] IS just about the worst teacher in the school.
I don't know if it's just first-year-teacher syndrome, or if it's just me. But if today hadn't been a professional development day I probably would have gone home sick at that point and never come back.

5 comments:

Dan Callahan said...

5 years ago I was you.

Make it through the next six weeks, then over the summer, kick your own butt hard on everything you think you can improve as a teacher. Pick your number one issue (for me, oh, it was so very classroom management) and study it ruthlessly for two months, from every angle. Read every book you can get your hands on, tear it apart, find what you think will work for you, and start from there. Come up with a new gameplan, and things will be fine.

Almost everybody's first year as a teacher sucks, so don't feel alone.

Pat said...

First year is tough! And May of every year is tough!

Who knows if that comment was real or just a chance the kid took to pick on someone because he had just been picked on.

Next September will be better!

Julie LaChance / Julie Sugarplum said...

I am with the other posters. Don't get too down on yourself. First year is the hardest. I remember many tears on my part. It gets a lot easier from here-trust me!
Summer is a great planning time. I recall the summer after my first year was spent making an entire years worth of new and exciting activities. It's amazing how much you can get done while laying by the pool!

julie said...

Thanks guys. I know everyone has a rough time their first year. It's just hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel or the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or whatever.

ms. v. said...

Wow, that's a really evil student. Don't take it personally... next year will be better... and many of your other students see the work you're putting in and don't share this kid's sentiments.