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Middle School Teachers Chatboard

My failure and growth as a teacher

by anon for now

Mar 24, 2013

reviously worked in local gov't for 15 years (property taxes).

Year 1 as a teacher - remedial math connection class for grades 6, 7 and 8.

2.5 years unemployed due to budget cutbacks.

Year 2 - remeidal math connections class for greades 6, 7 and 8 (different school)

year 3 - core classes - math and science - grade 6 - took over a homeroom from a teacher who retired. Did not know the students nor how far she had gotten with them. So many missteps on my part. Two steps forward only to realize they did not understand an eariler concept that should have been covered at the beginning of the year. 35 students in one class room with way too many variants in learning levels. Among the 32 about 1/3 are ESOL. 20 gifted students in another class again with various levels of giftedness (and I am NOT trained in gifted students)

I am now taking a 4 part, year-long work shop for the gifted. Still not adequately trained in ESOL. Went into survival mode and ...See More

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Debbie On 3/24/13, anon for now wrote: > Previously worked in local gov't for 15 years (property > taxes). > > Year 1 as a teacher - remedial math connection class for > grades 6, 7 and 8. > > 2.5 years unemployed due to budget cutbacks. > > Year 2 - remeidal math connections class for greades 6, 7 > and 8 (different school) ...See More

Mar 24, 2013

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Steve On 3/24/13, anon for now wrote:

It's hard to be creative in math particularly as a new teacher and....everybody teaches to the test in math and what's wrong with that? Are you going to teach them the real world applications of quadratic equations?

If you're saying it's hard to be a new teacher, you're certainly right. And to get...See MoreOn 3/24/13, anon for now wrote:

It's hard to be creative in math particularly as a new teacher and....everybody teaches to the test in math and what's wrong with that? Are you going to teach them the real world applications of quadratic equations?

If you're saying it's hard to be a new teacher, you're certainly right. And to get a job in teaching you need to be flexible as wel and take any job offered you which you clearly are smart enough to do even through it's challenging and exhausting both.

Why did you come to teaching? Do you regret your decision or was teaching a fallback position? In any case, here are my suggestions but know I absolutely teach to the test when I teach math and there' nothing wrong with that. The test is a good test for math and if you teach to it, you're teaching real math skills. If you want to feel like you're not always pushing and teaching to the test, let them play mathjeopardy. The gifted kids -they can move faster and don't burden them with too much rote practice - they get it fast and can resent busy work practice. > Previously worked in local gov't for 15 years (property > taxes). > > Year 1 as a teacher - remedial math connection class for > grades 6, 7 and 8. > > 2.5 years unemployed due to budget cutbacks. > > Year 2 - remeidal math connections class for greades 6, 7 > and 8 (different school) > > year 3 - core classes - math and science - grade 6 - took > over a homeroom from a teacher who retired. Did not know > the students nor how far she had gotten with them. So many > missteps on my part. Two steps forward only to realize they > did not understand an eariler concept that should have been > covered at the beginning of the year. 35 students in one > class room with way too many variants in learning levels. > Among the 32 about 1/3 are ESOL. 20 gifted students in > another class again with various levels of giftedness (and > I am NOT trained in gifted students) > > I am now taking a 4 part, year-long work shop for the > gifted. Still not adequately trained in ESOL. Went into > survival mode and did a ton of worksheets in a 3-month > stretch. Fail into the trap of teaching to the test. > > Very much burned out and upsset that I could not be more > creative in my teaching. I have felt pushed to get all the > standards in and I am drained. > > I gues I'm not really looking for anyone to respond. Just > needed a place to unload my burdens for a while. Spring > break coming up. Will re-energize and pick up the pieces. > > Thanks for listening. > >

Mar 24, 2013

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Mshope Wow, those are huge classes. I did take a graduate level gifted education class. It really was not that helpful. I now do the things that come with our textbook and a few other enrichment activities. I no longer try to have something for the gifted to do every second.

I did try to do a lot of "creative" things my first few years. Many of ...See More

Apr 18, 2013

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