Monday, September 04, 2006

Changing Impressions

School has been in session for 3 weeks now, and I find it interesting how my impressions change as I get to know the kids. For the first week it's all a frenzy, and I'm a bit overwhelmed with all these new faces in class that I don't know. I already start to form some impressions (chatty, lazy, depressed, good-natured...) some right and some way off base.

Then the second week comes along and I get a better sense of the kids, and I know most (or all) of their names. They're more comfortable, and hence some are more chatty in class. I keep meaning to change seats (and I have some) but I need to wait until the 4th week when I can remove some extra desks from my class. (In hind sight, I could have just left the seats but not assigned anyone to them).

Now after 3 weeks have passed, I *almost* have my classroom the way I want it. I had a day or 2 where I could walk around most of the period to help the students while they practiced on a "puzzle" sheet of trig problems (How do you make chicken napoleon? Use only the bony parts! ar ar ar ... thanks pizzazz company). I have my homework correcting system in place (with the timer it takes at most 8 minutes or so after I answer questions).

Grades are due tomorrow, so I'm now in a frenzy of checking homework I've collected and such. With all this, I'm still not fully applying some of the teaching knowledge I wanted to test out yet. Soon. Soon.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:58 PM

    I enjoy reading about the various methods that teachers use to manage their classrooms. I think it's a very good idea to wait several weeks before arranging the final seating chart because it often takes at least that long to figure out the class dynamics and the relationships among the students themselves.

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  2. Could you explain how you run your homework checking system? I've been working a lot on this lately, but mine still takes a good 15 minutes or more.. I want them to have time to discuss their answers in groups and fix their mistakes, as well time for me to model the couple problems that many people had trouble with. I can't tell if it is time well spent or not. Thanks!

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  3. Anonymous5:19 PM

    Very good teaching method. I should probally try some of them to improve myself.

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