Day 7 reminds me how much of a whirlwind my job is. In just 7 days, I have lost 9 students and gained 10.
If I only worried about teaching students, this job would be as easy as most people outside the profession believes it to be. This has to be the most difficult job I have had. It would be easy to cut corners here and there to accommodate things, but I can’t do that, it’s not within myself. I have to push myself and my students, I have to make sure that while they are in my classroom I am giving them the education they deserve, not the one that is convenient for me or them. The following quote takes on a whole new meaning in my classroom:
I constantly have to reteach classroom expectations, procedures, activities. Visual Patterns, Estimation 180, Open Middle, etc. all take an extra 10 minutes to introduce and explain. All of this I can live with, what is starting to weigh on me is the word continuity.
I can deal without continuity, my students shouldn’t have to. Many of them don’t choose the life they have, and many would live much different lives if they had some control. My biggest concern for them is their education. Sure there are professions that they can go into where their gaps in knowledge won’t matter, but I want the best for them. I want them to have the greatest chance at pursuing their dreams. Many students come to me saying they haven’t been in school for over a year, where do they fit? How do they equate into NCLB? I have received varying ideas on how to instruct them, but my philosophy is to respect them- teach them age/cognitive appropriate material and provide individual support for any gaps they have.
I’m curious when I’ll hit 100% turnover, right now I’m down to 11 students who have been with me from the start of the year.
MathLab 