A day in the life, S's version

My day is the same as B's in lots of ways, but here's where our paths diverge:

From 8:45-10:45 I'm in my classroom, teaching reading and writing to 8 students, ages 8 to almost 13. They're all in phases 7 and 8 for these subjects, which are third grade phases. They are frustrating at times, just like all kids, but (like all kids) generally delightful. I really enjoy them. We sing every day, and they teach me Yup'ik words which I usually mangle, and they work really hard. But the language barrier is a real challenge, and I'm learning a lot about teaching kids who are English language learners, and also just about being patient. The most frustrating thing is when I do a mini-lesson (for example, maybe I do a little lesson on how to write an outline), and I show an example, and then I ask them to try it out, and maybe I hand out a graphic organizer or a worksheet or books or sticky notes or whatever, and they just stare at me blankly. Absolutely no idea what to do. Now if one kid does this, it's usually because he wasn't listening. But if all 8 kids do it, it's on me. We go back to the beginning, start again.

From 10:45 to 11:45 I go down the hall to another teacher's room for math, and she brings her class to mine. We made this switch at my request, because my math kids are bigger (11-14), working at 5th and 6th grade levels, and can't really fit into the chairs and desks in my room. Math has its ups and downs. The most difficult thing has been that even though the kids are all in the same phase, they were all over the place within that phase. Some needed to pass tests on polygons, some on decimals, some on fractions, some on probability, some on circumference. So teaching that math class is always a juggling act, and the hardest thing is when some kids are done or need help, but I'm working with a different student on something totally unrelated. I've put together a big bin of math activities that they can do when they're done or when they're waiting for me, but this has only helped a little. Still, they are making progress, and it's a good challenge for me to work with kids who are too old to be motivated by my pleasure or displeasure, like young kids are. Keeps me on my toes.

After math I eat lunch, and for the rest of the day I pull kids, usually in ones or twos, to work on math or reading skills. This has been a totally new thing for me, and in general I like it. We get some really intensive work done, and there's usually no behavior issues. But I do miss having my own class.

I also try to leave by 4:30 or 5 - lately it's been more like 5 or 5:30. But the evenings are still long - darkness falls around 9-ish. It's easy to stay up too late talking and drinking tea with E and B. But it's a nice way to end the days.

Back to Athol this weekend for a training with B, E, and another teacher. Not really looking forward to it, though it might be exciting to see cars and grocery stores again.