Failure Is Success If We Learn From It

And so begins second quarter in District 200! I cannot believe how quickly first quarter has gone by! It seems like yesterday I went into Northwood over the summer to introduce myself to Mrs. D., and now I'm more than halfway through my student teaching. Where does the time go? I feel as though I've grown and accomplished so much since the school year started. It's interesting how you can go to school for years to study teaching, but it isn't until you work full-time in a classroom that you actually learn how to teach. Every day that I teach, I also learn - what a wonderful gift!

Report cards went out this week. You can imagine how much work goes into preparing grades. First, I decided to look over all of the grades I had recorded to see which students were missing assignments. Second, I made contact with these students and encouraged them to turn in any late assignments for half credit - some points are better than no points, right? Third, I collected any work that was turned in. Fourth, I administered a number of tests that were never taken due to absences. (It's unfortunate that students miss school so frequently. I have a handful of students who miss at least two days of school a week.) Fifth, I entered all of the grades into the Report Card (RC) template. It is required that I leave a comment on any student who has received a D or an F. Of course, I left comments for each of my students, even if it was just to let parents know that their students were doing well in my class. Finally, I posted the grades so that report cards could be printed out. And boy did it feel great to have my grades posted one whole day early!

One student was kind enough to pose for a picture with his Haunted House assignment, which is due on Tuesday, October 30th. He is one of my most hard-working students, and his drawing is beautiful. More pictures to follow next week. Permission to take this photo has been granted by the student's parents.

There are two struggles I wish to address pertaining to this past week.

First, I have been working on strengthening the boundaries between myself and the students. Of course, I feel that I have set up these boundaries for most students, but there are a number of students who tend to hang around my desk during class or visit me before school or during study hall. I think the two students that have really caused me to lower these boundaries are the twins, Dain and Jake. They are both great kids, but they are also very needy. The kids often crack jokes with me, which is great, but I think they have taken my leniency too far because they have been calling me "Noon" or "Nooney" for a couple of weeks without my correcting them. I hate to say it, but I've let it go for too long when I should have nipped it in the butt the first time it happened. On Thursday, I told them both that they are disrespecting me each time they do not call me Ms. Noonan. On Friday, they said that I was being mean when I told them that they needed to sit in their desks and work on their projects during class time. Dain will often hang around before going to lunch, and when I told him that his lunch period was time I was able to work on my own, he was confused as to why I was telling him to move onto lunch. I feel terrible, but it's my own fault. I have to work on being more conscious of treating all of my students the same.

And second, I am continuously working on strengthening my classroom management skills. I put a new a new consequence plan into motion because their talking has been somewhat excessive, to say the least. On Thursday, one of my seventh graders, Mikey, was talking, just as he does every. After asking him to quiet down several times, I told him he would have to serve a detention with me. I had finally done it! I had given out a detention just like everyone had been telling me to do! "Nail someone with a detention. That way, everyone will know that you are serious in your discipline." After class, I told Mikey that I was going to call his mother to see when it would be best for him to serve his detention. He seemed sad as he went on to his next class, and I felt terrible. When I told Mrs. D. that I had assigned a detention, she said to make a call home, but to tell his parent that we would hold off on a detention. What?! I was shocked! Mrs. D. second-guessed my decision and overruled the detention that I had just given out, even though she was one of the main people telling me to give out a detention when necessary. Why had she gone over my decision? Didn't I stick to my ground rules and give a detention as I said I would if someone wasn't following directions? Of course, now I feel that I should not give a detention ever again. I am confused as to what I should do.