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This could be a whopping long list.
But it is...it is that time of year, when you really should think honestly about what worked, what didn't, and how to fix it.
A few simple things that I started at the beginning of the year that I dropped and I regretted it:
1) I did a "send-off" at the end of class using a Latin phrase that they had to repeat before I would let them leave the room. *I* was in control of the class; I was in control of them getting out of their seats. For some reason in January I dropped it. Part of it was scrambling to find a phrase every morning and remembing to write it on the board. And I went through a lot in Jan/Feb (2 funerals, among other things).
So what I need this summer is a master list. I'm thinking a list that maybe I'd repeat every six weeks so that by the end of the year they'd KNOW the phrase cold. (Good for NLE.) BUT if I did that, I'd need a new phrase per level of Latin, wouldn't I? EITHER WAY, this is an easy fix that just requires having a list I want to use printed and ready to go, maybe printed with space to check off what I've used or something.
2) Cooperative group work. I had been using at my middle school this cooperative group work sort of thing which I dropped because my Latin 1's were so varied--my seniors worked much differently from my freshmen. MY MISTAKE. End result is that some kids are getting farther behind than they should, and there is this idea of "I can sit around for 10 minutes and then do this at home" attitude that is beginning to really piss me off.
My fault. I should have just found a way to make it work.
AND I want to plan out how to do differentiated teaching/assignments. BP does great things with that; but he does great things in general.
I'm running out of time to write, but I wanted to begin my list of what I did wrong. Note, all you new/future teachers, that the main thing I feel I did wrong was not the teaching of Latin itself (though there's some of that which can go in another note), but the managing of the class. If you are a new teacher or future teacher, classroom management truly is the hardest thing to master. I'm not saying my classes are out of control; they aren't. BUT I want my classes to be more productive, to truly be work from bell to bell. I want students to leave my class thinking they worked hard all period and where did the time go.
Part of the problem with this is that it's all in YOUR hands, and by spring semester you're getting exhausted. You're playing "keep up" or "catch up" constantly (especially if you have multiple preps), and you rarely feel totally on top of things, especially if you have family. And that's ok. You get used to that feeling. BUT YOU CAN'T START DROPPING THINGS. I know, I did, and I regret it. It's made for less productive classes, more disruptions which then lead again to less productive classes. For instance, if I had the students working hard in their cooperative groups, no one would ever be off task, and I could spend more time monitoring and helping with Latin, then asking why someone isn't working or why I hear gossip about what so-n-so did the night before. (Ugh, freshmen girls!)
More on Latin later. I hope.
But it is...it is that time of year, when you really should think honestly about what worked, what didn't, and how to fix it.
A few simple things that I started at the beginning of the year that I dropped and I regretted it:
1) I did a "send-off" at the end of class using a Latin phrase that they had to repeat before I would let them leave the room. *I* was in control of the class; I was in control of them getting out of their seats. For some reason in January I dropped it. Part of it was scrambling to find a phrase every morning and remembing to write it on the board. And I went through a lot in Jan/Feb (2 funerals, among other things).
So what I need this summer is a master list. I'm thinking a list that maybe I'd repeat every six weeks so that by the end of the year they'd KNOW the phrase cold. (Good for NLE.) BUT if I did that, I'd need a new phrase per level of Latin, wouldn't I? EITHER WAY, this is an easy fix that just requires having a list I want to use printed and ready to go, maybe printed with space to check off what I've used or something.
2) Cooperative group work. I had been using at my middle school this cooperative group work sort of thing which I dropped because my Latin 1's were so varied--my seniors worked much differently from my freshmen. MY MISTAKE. End result is that some kids are getting farther behind than they should, and there is this idea of "I can sit around for 10 minutes and then do this at home" attitude that is beginning to really piss me off.
My fault. I should have just found a way to make it work.
AND I want to plan out how to do differentiated teaching/assignments. BP does great things with that; but he does great things in general.
I'm running out of time to write, but I wanted to begin my list of what I did wrong. Note, all you new/future teachers, that the main thing I feel I did wrong was not the teaching of Latin itself (though there's some of that which can go in another note), but the managing of the class. If you are a new teacher or future teacher, classroom management truly is the hardest thing to master. I'm not saying my classes are out of control; they aren't. BUT I want my classes to be more productive, to truly be work from bell to bell. I want students to leave my class thinking they worked hard all period and where did the time go.
Part of the problem with this is that it's all in YOUR hands, and by spring semester you're getting exhausted. You're playing "keep up" or "catch up" constantly (especially if you have multiple preps), and you rarely feel totally on top of things, especially if you have family. And that's ok. You get used to that feeling. BUT YOU CAN'T START DROPPING THINGS. I know, I did, and I regret it. It's made for less productive classes, more disruptions which then lead again to less productive classes. For instance, if I had the students working hard in their cooperative groups, no one would ever be off task, and I could spend more time monitoring and helping with Latin, then asking why someone isn't working or why I hear gossip about what so-n-so did the night before. (Ugh, freshmen girls!)
More on Latin later. I hope.
