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kutia
Teacher In Need of Assistance

Yes, that's right I am a TINA. My organization skills (or lack thereof) are starting to sink the ship.

 
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Not the same old,
by: kutia, 02-26-2010

same old. I actually had a pretty good day today.

Yesterday was a very long day. I spent about 14 hours at school. We had our Black History program and (of course) it ran long. I was so tired at the end of the day. I usually don't stay at school very late. My dogs like it when I leave by 4. Which might account for why I always feel like I'm running behind.


My kids did a great job with their performance. The audience liked it.
I got my desk and small group area cleaned up.

Today went good. Same issues as everyday: too much chatter and the same 3 lazy kids. (I have more kids than that, but these 3 are notoriously lazy.) The issues today just didn't bother me as much as they did a few days ago. I get these days where everything goes wrong and I just can't pull myself out of the black hole. And then **pop**, it is just a gray hole. Occasionally even a beige one.

I got some good ideas for small groups from my mentor teacher.
My desk is still neat.

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Hi, my name is Tina
by: kutia, 03-09-2010

and I am a Teacher In Need of Assistance. I'm in my 3rd year and I just feel like I am failing.

I've got a pretty good group of kids this year. Only one with real bad discipline issues but even that kid has good days. I feel like I'm the one who never has any good days. I want to help the kids; I want to be one of those great teachers.

Part of this could be due to my personality. I have always been really down on myself. I take anti-depressants and I really do try to think about the positive things. It just doesn't do me any good. I'll think I'm doing a great job with one thing and meanwhile I get dinged about two different other things. I dread going to work becasue I figure I'll screw something up and it'll be right in front of the Prince.

Okay I'm going to try to list 3 good things from today.
My small group time went well.
I got to work on time.

I can't think of anything else and those two took me 5 minutes.

7 Comments

Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
by: kutia, 03-01-2010

BEGIN RANTING NOW - Can I just go out on a limb here and say that parents will be the death of me? That is if their children don't beat them to it. Conferences were last night. I thought they went pretty well. Even the one that I was most worried about. The mom of "Dancer" does not like me. I guess she feels that a first year teacher is not good enough for her precious child. After the first progress report went home, she went straight to the Principal (who she knows even outside of school) and requested that her daughter be moved. She would prefer that Dancer get the benefit of last year's "teacher of the year." Didn't mention any of this to me, No I hear about it from the Principal. On the first progress report, she was unhappy because Dancer didn't make straight A's. Second grade!!! Dancer's mom said -- We've never gotten such low grades before.-- Whadda ya mean "we" lady? I'm not grading you. Or I shouldn't be anyway.

So conference, she shows and I hand over the report card. Mentally cringing because in two subjects Dancer received less than an A. And I'm talking maybe 2 points less. I'm seriously preparing to defend myself. Verbally and physically, if necessary. She seems fine, a little disappointed, but indicated she was content. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Fast foward to today --- I get a note from Dancer's mom. She is displeased and wants to know how the grades are figured. She went and spoke to another teacher last night about her displeasure. And now she wants to know how I got the grades in those "low" subjects. I guess she thinks I just made stuff up. I wish she would get her daughter moved. Dancer's great, but I don't want to have to deal with this mom.

HERE ENDETH THE RANT

4 Comments

Parents and the Principal
by: kutia, 10-29-2007

I love my principal. Maybe it is because she is a first year principal, but she is just so fabulous. I don't think she has regetted hiring me yet. Although sometimes I can see why she might. I have one parent right now who is causing all sorts of waves. Her son is behind, not really his own fault. He has some learning difficulties but tries really hard. He actually should've been retained last year but due to someone (mom) dropping the ball he wasn't. Mom hasn't talked with me since the beginning of the year. She certainly hasn't mentioned any concerns since then. Not to me anyway. She's brought little "blonde boy" to school in the mornings two maybe three times. Then she'll hang around in the room for about 5 minutes. After that I thought she was leaving. Um, no. She's been walking across the hall to talk to the grade level leader. My fearless leader assumed that the mom was also talking to me. Again, um, no. So yesterday, leader comes across to me to give me a heads-up. I'm sure glad she did. Now that I know how upset she is, I can talk her about. What I wonder, is how can she (mom) possibly think she knows exactly what's going on in my class when she's only been in here about 30 minutes altogether?

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Technology tragedy
by: kutia, 10-09-2007

A horrible thing has happened!! I kept all my files on a flash drive. All my teaching stuff, including the files from the Print Shop here on ProTeacher. All my Master's stuff was on that flash drive too. So Friday afternoon, I was trying to rearrange my desk and clear up the cord clutter. I was plugging in a cord to the back of the tower and it slipped. The tower, not the cord. And of course, the flash drive was plugged into the front of the tower. So the tower falls and my flash drive got smushed. And did I have the files backed up anywhere? Heck no! I thought I was being so clever having everything on one flash so that I could carry it around with me and work on stuff anywhere. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I just signed up for online file storage account. Hopefully, that will work for me. I'll be able to work from anywhere and there is much less chance of it getting smashed.
Now I'd better get to work on rewriting my newsletter for tomorrow.

4 Comments

So incredibly nervous!
by: kutia, 09-14-2007

I am so nervous about tonight. Tonight is my very first "Meet the teacher" night in which I am the teacher in question. Yikes!! I'm so afraid I'll make a bad impression and a parent is going to go straight to the principal and demand I be run out of the school. Nope, no drama queen here. I really am nervous though. Would it be a bad idea to go have a couple of drinks first? Yeah, probably. I may just self-medicate with Chick-fil-a. I am a total Chick-fil-a addict. It is right near my house, and I do want to go home and change. Or is that a rookie move? Well, I am a rookie. I wore nice khakis and a light blue sweater today. But I don't feel that it is nice enough. I have a real nice dress at home (not REAL nice) that I think I will change into.
I don't have any major plans for this meeting. I talked to the other 2nd. grade teachers and I'm just going to copy their agenda. Basically, I'm going to put a box with the kid's papers inside on their desk. I'll let the parents find their kids desk and go through the papers while I explain some of my procedures. I also have a conference request sheet. I' m planning to put out a contact information sheet too. Just asking for numbers and emails, and their preferred method of contact. I hope they all say email. I'd much rather type than call them. In fact, I'd much rather type than meet them.

Wish me luck.

3 Comments

Treading water
by: kutia, 09-05-2007

Hey y'all
I think I've finally got my head above water. Maybe, possibly, sort of, for the time being anyway. All of this is subject to change bright and early tomorrow morning.
I got some planning time in with my team last weekend. I know they are there for me anytime I need some help. The only problem is that I hate asking for help. I feel like it completely exposes my ineptitude. I can just see the other teachers inwardly rolling their eyes when I come near. (Did I mention I have insecurity issues?)
We're supposed to be teaching science this week. How do I do that with exactly 4 science supplies? I have 1 pair of goggles, 2 hand lenses, and 2 thermometers. We finally got student copies of the textbook today. I want to start by teaching the scientific process and doing a quick experiment on Friday. One of my team members suggested an easy lesson with bubbles. The kids will enjoy it, but they're liable to lose their minds.
I have the loudest 2nd. grade class. I've talked to them about it until I'm blue in the face. I even made them sit out their recess. I told them that if they can't listen in class, then they will have to listen at recess. I use the color card system. That doesn't seem to have much of an effect. Although "Jill" (as in Jill in the box) did manage to stay on green all day today. I couldn't believe it, I had to double check. She can not manage to stay in her seat. If someone receives permission to get out of their seat for any reason, she does too. At one point this morning, she got up out of her seat while I was talking to the class (which I do not allow) to get out her raincoat. I may not have an overhead or science supplies but the roof does not leak.
Did I mention I don't have a working overhead either? I think I'm spoiled by my student teaching district. That district had document cameras and data projectors in every room. They were so cool.

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I think I'm drowning
by: kutia, 08-31-2007

Tomorrow is the last day of the first week. I have never been so emphatic in saying TGIF. I'm starting to think my principal is nuts for hiring me. I just feel like I'm completely floundering. Maybe it is just because we're just doing "first week" stuff. Nothing really substantial. I want to start planning with my grade level team. I've never used any of the programs required in my district. So I have no idea how to get started. I've brought home the TEs and I'll spend the weekend going through them. I don't feel like a teacher, I feel like a babysitter. And not a particularly effective one at that.

3 Comments

3 Attachment(s) Friday before!
by: kutia, 08-26-2007

I got my class list. Just about 20 minutes ago. I'm so excited. There are 20 students on my list. There are only 9 that I am sure I can pronounce. That is going to be an interesting attendance check. So many apostrophes and other punctuation marks in odd places. I swear one name has an = sign. I hope that is just a typo. I guess I'll find out on Monday. On my way out the door tonight I'm going to take some pics. of how my room looks all decorated.
And I just want people to take special notice of the number line. Especially the section in the corner. Those sections have fallen down five times. Each time requires me to haul over the long table and climb up. Now those sections have sticky-tack, tape and staples. If they have fallen down again by Monday morning, I'm going to use contact paper and stick it to the floor.

8 Comments

1 Attachment(s) First day at my campus
by: kutia, 11-18-2007

Hey y'all
Well today is my first real day at my school. I've been in New Teacher orientation most of this week. Basically, mass introductions to the administration, presentations by content specialists, and HR-type stuff. School starts on the 27th. I don't even have any curriculum yet. The presenters at orientation keep saying "You'll get that next week." The only thing I know for sure is that we are a Voyager district. I've heard good and bad things about Voyager, so I'll just wait and see.
Next week is when all the rest of the veteran teachers come back to campus. I'm just hoping to get keys today. I'll finally feel like a real teacher when I have keys to my very own classroom. I'd love to get keys to the building so I can go up there whenever I want, but I'm not expecting that.
I'm going to attach some photos of my classroom. I took this when I got my tour. It is completely bare, no decorations. Just desks and a few tables. The great thing is that there are 4 computers for student use. Our campus is the only one to have that many student computers.
I should probably say something about myself. Like the blog title says, I'm a first year teacher. I actually subbed last year, but not very much. I have a part-time job that attempted to take over my life back in December of last year. I finally managed to beat it into submission but I'll have to keep a firm grip. The main boss-lady isn't the type who will understand that my teaching job needs to come first. I'm also in grad. school. The course is online, which is fabulous. I'm (slowly) working towards a Master's in Library Science.
Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to school I go!

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