IT'S OVER
Well, at about 2:30 this afternoon, I turned in my keys, and the 2004-2005 school year officially ended. Don't get too excited--summer school starts next Monday.
All-in-all, it was a good year. I have grown so much as a teacher this year. I really feel that this has been my strongest year thus far. I am learning how to be much more demanding, and how to challenge my students to think on their own. Unfortunately, the community in which I teach, has a good bit of wealthy, needy (oxymoron?) children. They expect you to do everything for them, always look for the easy way out, don't put forth more effort than absolutely necessary, and don't understand the meaning of the word RESPECT. I am learning how to deal with that and have decided that next year I am really going to have to learn how to rule with an iron fist. It's not really in my personality, but if I am going to expect these kids to master the skills needed to graduate high school, I've got to demand more. It's rough, but I'm committed to getting there.
On another note, I got my FCAT scores today. 21% of my students failed!! I was not happy about this, so I started asking around. Even the best teachers in my department had poor scores. It's amazing to me that no matter how hard we try to work with these kids to prepare them for this test, and no matter how much we stress the importance of this test, the kids still don't take it seriously. I have never been one of those teachers that "teach to the test" and I refuse to do that, but I am going to have to seriously look at the way I am teaching because these kids are lazy and just don't want to do the work. Let me give you an example of how lazy these kids are: I have a student who scored a perfect score last year when she was a 9th grader. This year she scored 123 points LOWER because she "didn't feel like sitting there the whole time." BS!! And that, my friends, is the future of this country. But what do I know, other than how to read and write?!?! ;-)
ANyway, the school year is over. I got a few days off and then get back into the classroom next Monday. Ah, the joys of being an adult...
All-in-all, it was a good year. I have grown so much as a teacher this year. I really feel that this has been my strongest year thus far. I am learning how to be much more demanding, and how to challenge my students to think on their own. Unfortunately, the community in which I teach, has a good bit of wealthy, needy (oxymoron?) children. They expect you to do everything for them, always look for the easy way out, don't put forth more effort than absolutely necessary, and don't understand the meaning of the word RESPECT. I am learning how to deal with that and have decided that next year I am really going to have to learn how to rule with an iron fist. It's not really in my personality, but if I am going to expect these kids to master the skills needed to graduate high school, I've got to demand more. It's rough, but I'm committed to getting there.
On another note, I got my FCAT scores today. 21% of my students failed!! I was not happy about this, so I started asking around. Even the best teachers in my department had poor scores. It's amazing to me that no matter how hard we try to work with these kids to prepare them for this test, and no matter how much we stress the importance of this test, the kids still don't take it seriously. I have never been one of those teachers that "teach to the test" and I refuse to do that, but I am going to have to seriously look at the way I am teaching because these kids are lazy and just don't want to do the work. Let me give you an example of how lazy these kids are: I have a student who scored a perfect score last year when she was a 9th grader. This year she scored 123 points LOWER because she "didn't feel like sitting there the whole time." BS!! And that, my friends, is the future of this country. But what do I know, other than how to read and write?!?! ;-)
ANyway, the school year is over. I got a few days off and then get back into the classroom next Monday. Ah, the joys of being an adult...
posted by Jessie @ 12:46 AM
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