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Home : 2001 : June : 27
There is a book that I highly, highly recommend... "The First Days of School" by Dr. Harry Wong. Dr. Wong tells you everything they DIDN'T tell you in all of those Master's level classes... the nuts & bolts of effective classroom management. His basic tenet is to always HAVE A PLAN. It does not have to be HIS plan, just A plan. His book saved my life from my first year of teaching to my second. Although my first year went fine, I was exhausted at the end of each & every day. During the summer I read "The First Days of School," put Dr. Wong's advice into action, and my second year was AMAZING!!! If you begin your school year the right way, you will probably not even get into curriculum until at least the third week of school. The first two weeks will be spent having the students learn and practice your PROCEDURES. The time you spend at the beginning of the year establishing your routines, procedures, and expectations will earn you hours of time later that might be lost otherwise due to ineffective management. Do not panic if you see other teachers already beginning the unit on "Explorers" (or whatever)... just do your thing & get your year off to the best possible start. I have a colleague who leaves every day at 2:50pm on the dot. I have heard other teachers in our school make snide comments about it, as though there is something wrong with a teacher who doesn't slave for hours each day after the school day ends. What they don't know-- because they don't work on a team with her-- is she's probably the best teacher in the school. She leaves at 2:50pm every day because she CAN-- because her classroom runs like a well-oiled machine. And I don't mean that she's super strict, or her lessons are all teacher-centered- on the contrary. She teaches with games, centers, cooperative learning, etc. But her kids know from day one how things will run in her classroom, and I swear, by week two, it's like they've had her for a whole year. Also keep in mind that a great deal of the time we spend as teachers is in assessment of student progress. Although it is sometimes necessary to assign projects or other work that will be time consuming to assess, you should strive to design rubrics & checklists which will allow you to assess student work quickly and easily. I'm not sure how familiar you are with the use of rubrics for assessment, but if you'd like more information, let me know. I guess what my advice boils down to is this: the less of your job you bring home (in the form of paperwork, or just general stress!), the MORE time you have with your children and FOR YOURSELF... the happier you'll be. I promise. I admire you for achieving your Master's & beginning your career as a single mom. Best wishes to you!! Beth p.s. I just had another thought. Be SURE to network with other moms (single or not) in your school & neighborhood. Take turns giving one another "time off" by rotating babysitting duty on Saturdays. Having one Saturday a month to visit my favorite book store & drink coffee or sit on the patio of my fave Mexican restaurant drinking margaritas with friends has saved my sanity!
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