Teachers/Educators Thread • Page 24

this is huge. There are people in the profession who have no business being there with their attitude and outlook on children and colleagues. Don’t get sucked in to those people. In addition, don’t show your cards/be negative because as you move up the ladder, that will come back to bite you. Something you don’t think about early on when you’re barely above water that becomes apparent when you’re ready to take a jump.

 

Any school counselors in this thread? I just finished my 13th year teaching, but a position opened up at my school in counseling which I got my Masters in, so I made the move. I'm so nervous to start all over.

 

+1 on the practice ur teacher voice. I am so passive when I started teaching I had an experienced teacher who taught me to say things factually beforehand. Like "the grass is green. The sky is blue. Take your seats." Or whatever the thing is. I would say that aloud before class and then kind of just think the first two sentences in my head and say the desired command aloud. Helped me say it more assertively instead of saying it more like a passive question.

I don't teach anymore but still use my teacher voice frequently lol

Also if you're not used to projecting your voice, try to look up healthy ways to do that. I lost my voice soooo bad when I started cause I wasn't used to talking so much and so loudly. Drink tea, honey, whatever you gotta do!

 

What resources do you all use to create your lesson plans?

 

The good thing is for the last 13 years, I’ve worked in management for Starbucks and Apple, so I’m used to literally talking to customers and employees all day, haha. Between that and all of the coaching/progressive discipline stuff, I feel confident in at least adapting what I know. It’s lesson planning and planning in general that I think will be a struggle. I’m already stressing about it.

 

I'm sure you'll fall into the swing of it. I think every beginning of the year has that awkward phase where it's largely setting expectations and getting to know the vibe/dynamics of the students.

Honestly I'd get stressed out every first day of school because for the life of me I could never remember how I started the first day the year before. I taught early childhood so I felt like every first day of the year I was like uhh.... So hello. What's up? So this is school...

 

don't reinvent the wheel. whatever you are required to teach there are resources out there for it. your PLC probably has some kind of Google drive they could share with you that would be a great starting place. find things and modify them to fit your needs. make it your own that way. don't do more work than is required and create things from scratch, especially your first year.

 

I use Google Suite for all planning, data collation, and my slides.

There is an AI called Magic School that I'm going to investigate in the coming weeks to see how I can make tasks (e.g., multiple choice assessments, blanket emails) less tedious. I signed up using my school account and it did not charge me for anything.

 

My principal suggested this to me. She was showing it to me and it seems great.

 

I spent so much money over the years on Teachers Pay Teachers. Haha. There is lots of good free stuff when you filter it though. And eventually you get ideas that you can recreate to fit as your own. Sometimes the preview for a lesson is enough.

 

Does anybody sell on Teachers Pay Teachers? I'm thinking about it, outrageous they make you pay to start and then take so much of your profit though.

 

Welp just accepted an environmental educator position (I’ve tutored and student taught in the past, but this is my first “real” educator job) with a nonprofit based in the Marin Headlands, so I’m sure I’ll be posting a lot in this thread in the ensuing months haha

 

I’m really struggling to find a good angle for teaching The Glass Menagerie and The Importance of Being Earnest this year. I really just did basic comprehension coverage last year but I need an angle I can be enthusiastic about to get them invested. I’m rarely this stumped

 

I haven't read either, so take this all with a grain of salt! I just enjoy a good brainstorm, especially about big ideas.

After looking at summaries, for The Glass Menagerie I'd have the central question be something like: Which is better: a safe, closed off fantasy or an unknown, unpredictable reality? The Laura/Jim relationship sounds interesting to me. Not sure what ages/where you teach, but you can also ask questions about the pros and cons of staying online in localized bubbles (e.g., Discord) versus meeting people in real life, along with how those experiences differ.

Earnest sounds like it's about social mores and what's most held most valuably in communities. How do values differ across various populations of people (i.e., ethnicities, religions, sexualities, genders, socioeconomic statuses)? Feel like there could be some great reflective writing and/or projects about what the students hold most dear for themselves.

Hope that helps!

 

Supplement with the Ernest films. Scared Stupid, Goes to Jail, Slam Dunk

 

Sounds about right. Lucky to be in a school where I got paid to write my own curriculum and can deviate as needed. I’ve had some nonsensical standardized test prep stuff shoved at me, but we pushed back and got to make our own assessments. Only pain is that my class is the Keystone state tested subject

 

I'm in a private school so I can tweak the curriculum as needed which is really a luxury I'm finding out.

 

I mean nobody is really watching what I do in public

 

I guess it depends on your school district/state.

 

yeah... I teach special education freshman English and for the most part nobody cares what I do. I deviate pretty hard from the curriculum 3rd quarter and nobody has ever noticed or paid much attention.

 

I just posted my Amazon wishlist on my socials. Hopefully people buy me some stuff. I really underestimated how much it costs to buy supplies. I'm so used to working for corporations where I throw it on a company card, haha.

 

So I'm two months into teaching and I definitely underestimated how important the classroom management is to everything else. I did not go into it thinking it would be easy, but I underestimated how making a mistake or not setting the right expectation early can be difficult to turn around. I also have a huge portion of my class that have IESPs which has thrown me off considerably. My room is a revolving door of providers. The kids are all at different levels. It's been so challenging but I also know that once I get the hang of it, it'll be so much more rewarding.

 

Year 4 and still fine tuning my management

 

Yeah it's rough, especially for a first year teacher/first year at a new school.