Through the Window

Just a quick update from Philly. Things are coming along. My class size has increased to twelve, and only 6 have serious behavior problems (note the sarcasm). In the phases of a new teacher, I'm currently disillusioned. The good news is, the next phase is rejuvination; how awesome is that? Seriously, I feel like I've finally gotten to the point where I can control the majority of the class. Yesterday a student punched his hand through the bathroom window, and I kept control, which I consider an accomplishment. The only problem is one single student, who has no concept of appropriate behavior. The difference between when he's there and when he's not is about twice as much learning. It's a crime to the other students. Anyway, this didn't end up being that interesting of a post, but my brain is elsewhere. Better writing to come, I promise.

Don't Say Pool House!

One of the many misconceptions of teaching is that, if you have nothing better to do, you just give kids worksheets to practice. At least I thought that when I was little. Of course, now I realize giving students busy work isn't one of the best uses of anyone's time, but it should also be said that making/finding worksheets to give students takes boatloads of time. I'm always looking for websites that help create worksheets to practice skills that I know my students need. In fact, I spend so much time creating practice sheets to give to my students so that I can walk around and teach them on their individual levels, that I rarely have time to carefully review each question on each sheet. While grading a worksheet of questions that I had to create particularly fast, I came to an unfortunate realization. This worksheet is a joint practice of reading comprehension and phonics -- a story filled with /p/ words, with comprehension questions at the end. Having only skimmed this story myself, I did not realize that the nice tale of Peter's Pirate Party is held at his parents' home pool, complete with piñata, picnic tables, and pool house. I try to expose my students to diverse cultures, but mostly I want to find texts that reflect my students' races/religions/economics/etc. Can you say the OC visits Chico? Don't say "pool house"!