New teachers: you know those days where you drive home thinking that maybe you're in the wrong business. Well, I don't think that ever goes away entirely. Not for me anyway.
So yeah, I had a bad day. No, that's not entirely true... I had a bad 4th period. And it all basically came down to one kid. Where I hate myself right now is in the fact that I could have probably done something about it much earlier int he school year - but I didn't and now I have a kid in my beginning instruments class showing off to his friends how much he knows he can get away with.
My problem is that my classroom management skills relies on alliances with kids in the class. Returning kids help me manage the new ones. When I'm in a class where everyone is new, I am considerably less effective. I know I shouldn't complain - most of you secondary teachers get a whole new batch every year in every period. It's just that I haven't had to do crowd control like that in a while.
The part that gets me is that I am experienced enough to know when the kid is winning. He came into my class with an agenda to disrupt, and every time I chewed on him in front of the class I did nothing but feed his ego. I knew that. I played right into his hands - I am the Sheriff to his Robin Hood. And yet I can't seem to help myself.
I repeat, I am not a new teacher - I'm supposed to be a seasoned veteran, with teaching awards under my belt. But with this kid, I'm not. Today I went to the counselor to admit my defeat - I can't deal with this kid. I need to have him moved. She told me she didn't know if it would be possible - everyone's schedule is packed in too tight. If I'm stuck with him second semester, I'm screwed.
Bleah.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Ummmm.... OOPS!
We all make mistakes. Sometimes we make big mistakes. Sometimes we make funny mistakes. And sometimes we manage to wrap it all up in one package.
Fortunately, the mistake of which I speak is not a career-ending one. But nevertheless, the details behind it could make my life uncomfortable for a while if they became public: Some of you may remember that one of my student's mother harbors something of an attachment to me. Fortunately, she doesn't press this too hard, especially in the light of my recently expanded family. Still, she manages to slip in a reassurance of affection here and there - usually in the form of a card or a phone call with a double-meaning woven in. Now keep in mind, that she's also the most active and helpful parent volunteer that I have (which should be no surprise.) That is the reason why I do have her cel number stored on my phone.
Now, let's bring you up to speed on a recent and seemingly unimportant development in the last month - I got a new cel phone. It isn't anything fancy - in fact it's the cheapest touch-screen T-Mobile had to offer. It kind of looks like an iPhone from a distance - that's about as impressive as it gets. Still, it has about 8 GB of memory and will hold a ton of Maestro Jr. pictures, which is a plus since people usually greet me these days with "hey! How's the baby?"
The bad thing is that it's small for a touch screen, and the keypad is hard to manipulate. This has resulted in several mis-dials and unintentional texts. It is the latter that I will now expound upon: In trying to send a text request for Choir Mom to look into some future event details for me - I accidentally got into a quick-message menu. Instead of backing out of it, as I thought I did, I apparently sent "I love you" to her.
Really.
I mean.... what are the odds? Really? Of everyone that I could have accidentally sent that message to... it had to be her.
Well apparently she didn't see it for a while (she isn't a big "texter") When she did, she sent me a few replies - which didn't make sense because it was days later, and I didn't even know that I had sent the original text to her in the first place. The good news is that she pretty much assumed that it was a mistake on my part. The bad news is that when she finally told me (which is how I ended up discovering what happened) she said that she was going to keep it in her inbox, nonetheless.
So, I basically explained how it must have happened (which was easy to support, since my send box was littered with misfired texts during that time) and tried to laugh it off (albeit weakly). I then went and told my wife about it, who (as always) was highly amused, and proceeded to tease me mercilessly. Being that I can't really tell this story to too many people, there was only one other person in whom I confided - a close colleague whose husband is a former staff member at New Republic HS, and a good friend as well. Later that night I got a text from him: "I love you!"
This is definitely going in the "best stories of my teaching career" file.
Fortunately, the mistake of which I speak is not a career-ending one. But nevertheless, the details behind it could make my life uncomfortable for a while if they became public: Some of you may remember that one of my student's mother harbors something of an attachment to me. Fortunately, she doesn't press this too hard, especially in the light of my recently expanded family. Still, she manages to slip in a reassurance of affection here and there - usually in the form of a card or a phone call with a double-meaning woven in. Now keep in mind, that she's also the most active and helpful parent volunteer that I have (which should be no surprise.) That is the reason why I do have her cel number stored on my phone.
Now, let's bring you up to speed on a recent and seemingly unimportant development in the last month - I got a new cel phone. It isn't anything fancy - in fact it's the cheapest touch-screen T-Mobile had to offer. It kind of looks like an iPhone from a distance - that's about as impressive as it gets. Still, it has about 8 GB of memory and will hold a ton of Maestro Jr. pictures, which is a plus since people usually greet me these days with "hey! How's the baby?"
The bad thing is that it's small for a touch screen, and the keypad is hard to manipulate. This has resulted in several mis-dials and unintentional texts. It is the latter that I will now expound upon: In trying to send a text request for Choir Mom to look into some future event details for me - I accidentally got into a quick-message menu. Instead of backing out of it, as I thought I did, I apparently sent "I love you" to her.
Really.
I mean.... what are the odds? Really? Of everyone that I could have accidentally sent that message to... it had to be her.
Well apparently she didn't see it for a while (she isn't a big "texter") When she did, she sent me a few replies - which didn't make sense because it was days later, and I didn't even know that I had sent the original text to her in the first place. The good news is that she pretty much assumed that it was a mistake on my part. The bad news is that when she finally told me (which is how I ended up discovering what happened) she said that she was going to keep it in her inbox, nonetheless.
So, I basically explained how it must have happened (which was easy to support, since my send box was littered with misfired texts during that time) and tried to laugh it off (albeit weakly). I then went and told my wife about it, who (as always) was highly amused, and proceeded to tease me mercilessly. Being that I can't really tell this story to too many people, there was only one other person in whom I confided - a close colleague whose husband is a former staff member at New Republic HS, and a good friend as well. Later that night I got a text from him: "I love you!"
This is definitely going in the "best stories of my teaching career" file.
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