Switching Gears
How to change plans when you can’t drive stick-shift.
After careful consideration, I have decided to scale back my ambitions.
I know you all must be shocked at my decision, but it is final and I will not be changing my mind…
Unless I have to.
Nevertheless, I am stead fast in my ability to shift and change tactics. Last week was a tough week for me, probably the hardest I have ever had in my brand new teaching career.
I am very lucky to have gotten some really great feedback from my other cohorts and suggestions from my professor as well. In fact, I got some ideas so good, I decided to change the rest of the lesson plans I had for the rest of the week in order to do activities that did not really involve reading for three straight days.
On Monday, nobody was ready. So we had to shift to silent reading while I handled my rage that things were already not going to plan. Then I had some behavior issues. That was when I realized how little respect the students at the school had for female teachers—including their own principal. Try as they might, those kids will not listen to any adult figure unless you are a male coach. I saw two students who were not wearing masks be told by a female teacher to put them on. They rolled their eyes and were like, “yeah, yeah, we will.” Then about four doors down a male coach was standing outside his door and saw the girls. He asked them to put their masks on and they immediately did it. I do not know why the school’s culture is this way but it is, and that is something I am having to deal with as a female student teacher.
So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday pass with bumps and bruises and nobody really listening to me. When all of a sudden, one of my cohorts suggests a brilliant idea for a lesson that isn’t reading. I go in the very next day and there is an immediate mood change in the students. All of a sudden they are listening to me and happy to be in class and ready to do some work together. It was a total success!
By giving the students a one day break I was able to get somewhat back on track with everything and on Friday do the real lesson I had intended to do on Wednesday. Sure things are a little pushed back but honestly at least they are being openly contemptuous to me anymore.
And that is just first period.
Third period, as always, has been nothing but lovely to me. They are kind and respectful. It is was really refreshing especially after a the hard time first period gave me on Monday.
I am coming up on my last week in this placement and I am feeling a lot of relief. I have learned a lot the hard way and now I feel like I am a better teacher coming out of it. I look forward to this upcoming week and hopefully the students will give me a good send off.
