Week 3: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Week 3 proved to be another roller coaster of a week. I am happy to report that no children were seriously injured; however, that may have been more luck than effective classroom management.

The Good:
To start out with the positives, I do have amazing kids. After grading the diagnostics, I realized just how intelligent my students are, and they continue to be very achievement driven. I had students come up to my room for lunch nearly every day this week and on Tuesday, I enjoyed pizza and long division with two girls at a local pizza place after school.

In the classroom, while management is still a struggle, Tuesday’s lesson on Prime Factorization went surprisingly well- I was even able to play music while they were working and student cheered when we got through the “Do Now” (a first for the class) It is amazing how much more enjoyable math can be- for students and teachers- when instructions are clear, students are on task, and everyone is learning : )

The Bad:
Unfortunately, Tuesday’s lesson was the exception rather than the rule this week, and my ability to be explicit with instructions, and my student’s ability to keep their mouths closed and bottoms in the seat is limited. I tried to explain a way to “track” quiz scores and then determine your assigned homework based on the percentage you received on a certain objective. This was my attempt at differentiation, and while I am hopeful that it will work out better in the future, students were WAY confused and anarchy reigned in the classroom.

The Ugly:
There were a couple of extra “ugly” points this week. The first being when one student decided to make fun of another student who was dancing by jumping up and slamming his own head into his desk. The front part of both of his teeth chipped off and flew out of his mouth, leaving him with a nice “Dracula grill” until his mom took him to the dentist after school.

The second was an incident between two students. Both are extremely intelligent; however, one suffers from “little man” syndrome and the other is a holdover and quite apathetic about the classroom. Student #1 struggles to stay in his seat and began taunting/touching #2. #2 responding by pushing #1 as he walked away, and the event culminated with two punches being thrown before both were removed from the classroom.

Neither student is a “bad” kid, and I am hoping our week of lunch detention will allow the three of us to get to know and understand one another better. I am worried that creating a relationship with these two boys will be a challenge; however, doing so early will make the rest of the year run much smoother for the entire class.

In conclusion, week 3 certainly had its struggles. I continue to be a first year teacher with all of its implications, and my students continue to be 7th graders filled with angst and hormones. However, each day I learn something new, and I look forward to coming back tomorrow : )