Reassessing my Assessments

This week's schedule was so strange. We went to Salem High School on Monday morning to see the play they are soon to perform, Guys and Dolls. That took all of the morning, and I only saw my 6th, 7th, and 8th period classes. Then the next day we had an early out without a change in the bell schedule. This meant that I only saw periods 1 through 5. So basically, I taught the same thing on Tuesday and Wednesday. And can I just say how shocked I am at how fast the time whizzes by!? When I was studying to be a teacher, I saw the curriculum we are required to cover and I thought to myself, "Oh, it wont be hard to fit that all in a year. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I have extra time I'm not sure what to do with." Wow, what an ignorant assumption. I have plenty to teach, and I feel like I am running out of time for some things.

The kids had early out on Wednesday so that the teachers could have an in-service training meeting. It was soooooooooo boring, but I was reminded of a few things. Our principal talked to us about having common assessments (which my school --or at least my English team of teachers--  is horrible at). However, this did serve as a reminder to me that every day I should be assessing my student's understanding of the concept I have taught. I feel like I am pretty good at that part, but I forgot to also look and assess more long term. For example, over the weeks I have been teaching my kids the parts of speech (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.), but I don't know how much they have retained. This is especially important to know because I am planning on giving them a final test on parts of speech right before Thanksgiving break. So, because I was inspired by the boring meeting, the next day I gave my students a benchmark test on these concepts. Wow, they did horribly on some of it, and I quickly realized how useful assessments can be for reteaching. This week's task: reteach (in a different way) some of the parts of speech so that my kids can be better prepared for the final test.

You guys...the worst has happened...I knew it was coming...but I didn't want to admit it...it's here...SNOW!!!! Oh, how my poor California-raised body and spirit long for the simplicity of...no snow. But no, I don't get my wish. So of course with yesterday being the first snow day, all the kids were in a funk. No one could concentrate. The power briefly went off twice yesterday, and of course that got everyone talking and laughing and chatting instead of focusing. Usually I am sad that I don't have a window, but yesterday I didn't mind it.

Just so you guys can envision what I have to suffer, this is a picture of my car this morning. Remember, yesterday was our FIRST snow day.   :(



One last, funny thing.
I wrote this on Facebook about something that happened to me on November 7th:
"Happy UnBirthday to me! Today during 4th period, the band kids came into my classroom with all their musical instruments and wearing party hats. They gave me a candy bar and played a very entertaining rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song. I clapped, and then I blushed as I explained that it wasn't my birthday... Woops! haha. Just a month off guys! But thanks for the very sweet gesture."

The cold, hard truth

I realized something this week, and it's not pretty. When you are an intern, it is required that you live, breathe, think, eat, sleep your job. In other words, your internship is your life, and you can kiss those care-free college activities goodbye. Yup, that is the cold, hard truth, and it only took me one crummy week of teaching to realize it.

Yes, it's true that this week I didn't have the most optimal teaching environment anyway. It was anti-bullying week, dress up week, Halloween, and afternoon assembly schedule. Still, I know I can take some responsibility for my pretty mediocre lessons. Here are my confessions:

• Confession #1: I put my social life before my job this week. Yikes! I know, I know, I can try to excuse my behavior by saying that I am young and still single and live in a house full of desperately eligible bachelorettes. I admit that I was lured by the promises of costume parties and lots of candy (including eye candy). But the truth is simple: I knew when I accepted the internship that I would have to put in a lot of time and effort into doing my job well, and this past week I didn't put in the needed focus for successful teaching.
• Confession #2: There were days (Dr. Coombs, please don't kill me) that I didn't have a lesson plan written out. Yikes again! I realized how big of a problem this was when I was standing in front of my class, watching them talking, trying to get the attention, and also trying at the same time to figure out in my mind what exactly I needed to tell them. While sometimes I write lesson plans that I don't use during the actual lesson, I still find security in knowing that it sit there on my podium just incase my brain decides to fail me momentarily. So lesson learned.
• Confession #3: Because I was feeling so guilty, I went to the library last night to work on my unit plans. I am happy to say that I have basically everything planned out from now until Christmas break. But here is a little thing you may not know about me: I am a perfectionist when it comes to writing. I hate scribbling out things, but I think I hate writing in pencil more. It's a no-win situations. Until...I figured out a brilliant way to plan without having to scribble out changed lesson plans. I call it "the post-it method" and some of the veteran teachers at my school have started using it since they saw my planner. I have different colored post-it notes for different subject (the novel we are reading, writing, and grammar) and once I write the different lesson plans on the post-it, I am able to move and rearrange them to fit just right. I love it! Here is what it looks like: 

While you may read these confessions and think, "Maichael, you are being too hard on yourself. I'm sure your lessons were fine,"  I sit here and know that, although my students may be none the wiser, I know I didn't put in my full effort and that disappoints me. But, a new week will come in a few days, and I am already rededicated and better prepared for the future.

Anyway, enough of my bad confessions. Here are some more entertaining ones:

• Good Confession #1: I think I may be falling in love with teaching 7th graders. True, I haven't yet had the opportunity to try my hand at teaching older grades, but I actually enjoy teaching 7th grade much more than I thought I would. They are always so full of surprises. I have one girl in my first period class who is in love with words. The other day I said "befuddled" in class and she immediately got up and picked up a dictionary to find out what that word meant. Then, a few minutes later, she said to me, "Ms. Mayans, that is a cool word!  You want to know another cool word I learned a few days ago: Indubitable." She promptly opened up the dictionary again to find the official definition of the word "indubitable" and has been carrying a dictionary in her hand ever since. I love it!  :) Big words are so fun.
• Confession #2: It is pretty funny working in predominantly Mormon community. You get some very interesting reading logs. (The second picture instructs the students to write down sentences from their reading and identify the subject and verb).  
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• extra credit if you can identify where this girl is reading!

Well, that is all for now. Thank you to those who have commented or emailed me to give me advice and support. I love you all!