Two Oddly Related Things

One. Things I Do to Avoid Having to Begin Schoolwork After School:

1. Nap. (Although, is it called napping if it's for several hours?)
2. Online shop.
3. Read the news, magazine websites and others' blogs.
4. Facebook/talking to other people.
5. Eat.
6. Seriously think about starting schoolwork, but still not doing so.

Two. Very Important Lessons that I have Learned about Surviving as a Teacher:

1. SLEEP IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE. My ability to teach and mentor my students is directly related to how well I slept the previous night. Last year I went on very little sleep repeatedly, which was okay because my students were relatively easy to work with. This year, the story is very different and when I don't sleep long enough or well enough, I notice that both my students and myself suffer.
2. Retail therapy. Sometimes education-related. Two of my favorite purchases so far have been: Geometry Teacher's Activity Kit and How to Differentiate in Mixed Ability Classrooms.
3. Remember that school is not your whole life. After school everyday, I scan the news, interesting magazine articles and others' blog posts for a bit. Sometimes I read up on education news and blogs, but the bulk of my perusing is not education-based. I think it's important to not make education your only interest and expertise. As a teacher, you clearly care about education already, and your sanity begs you to care about other stuff, too. Extra points for reading material that makes you laugh or smile, because everyone could use an extra chuckle or two to fuel their day.
4. Teaching can be an incredibly isolating profession sometimes, despite working with lots of people throughout the day. A lot of times you feel like non-teachers don't understand the life you lead and if you're not in your ideal school, you'll probably want to avoid interacting with most of the adults (generally speaking, I find that fellow teachers are more irked with adult interactions rather than student interactions). Sometimes I definitely cut myself off from the world, but it's important to remember that having others, teachers and non-teachers to confide and converse with is extremely important to not feeling defeated when the going gets tough. You may not have time for long conversations, though, and that's why Facebook and texting can be helpful.
5. EATING IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE. My ability to teach and mentor my students is directly related to how well I slept the previous night eat/ if I eat at school. Last year I went on very little sleep lunch repeatedly, which was okay because my students were relatively easy to work with. This year, the story is very different and when I don't sleep long eat enough or well enough, I notice that both my students and myself suffer.
6. Think it and you're half way there.

Finding the correct balance of these two lists is where the magic is. Or so I think; I'm not quite there yet.

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

As you can guess from my serious lack of posts, I have been avoiding talking about how things are going in my classroom. They aren't. Going. Well, not anywhere positive at the moment. But I can't quit, it's not really an option. I have bills to pay and a body to feed. And though sometimes I think that I could just give up on teaching for now and put my biology degree to use, I watch videos on education or visit other educators' blogs and it reminds me that this is important. And that, though my situation is certainly far from ideal, this is a necessary obstacle to being able to make choices that are not only good for my students, but good for myself, too. At the end of the school year, I will have my certification, but I will not be putting it to use in Prince George's County.

The only way is up!

From Zoo to Classroom, Hopefully

Hi, everyone.

I'm struggling.

My students are exhausting me. I didn't feel this negatively about my students last year, ever. I guess this is one of the ways in which high school is different. Worse, I feel that a very small fraction of the kids are actually learning.

I'm hoping to turn this around. And I would appreciate any comments/feedback.

THE PROBLEMS:

- I'm overwhelmed. With grading (warm ups, classwork, homework, exit slips... gah, so many papers!), with keeping make up work organized (mostly because I don't take the time to do it), with lesson planning (is there a way to streamline this process more?), with effectively rewarding and "punishing" students, with cleaning my overheads, with keeping my class website up to date, with basically everything involved in teaching! So I'm behind.
- I'm having difficulty in finding more interactive activities for geometry.
- I wish I had more technology so I could show my kids pictures of where geometry fits into the world.
- Students talk too, too much - and not about math.
- Students are often tardy.
- Students aren't learning to their fullest extent.

Part of this is my doing. I'm feeling disorganized and overwhelmed so I'm not the teacher I should be or can be. But the students are a doozy too... They don't listen to or read directions, most don't do their homework and they rush through every assignment.

I know what my basic problems are. How do I fix them?