School Days, Rule Days...

I was blessed with the experience of working at a low income, inner city, Chicago School before I had embarked on this adventure. It taught me how to stand my ground, think on my feet, manage my own classroom, create a curriculum and much, much more. I can not imagine what it would be like for people coming straight out of college to teach in a school here.

My job is like any other teaching job, and very similar to any school in the states. I work at an all boys middle school with 700 students and about 40 staff members. Since I joined the public school system here, I had no idea as to what type of school, environment, student body, or location my school would be. Therefore, I feel very lucky to have been placed at a great school with a friendly atmosphere.

When I met one of my 4 co-teachers the day she picked me up from the airport, she said the first day I should introduce myself. Then, the morning of the first day of school she picked me up and wondered where my lesson plan was. I said it was in my head, because I was just planning on saying the basics... "Hi my name is Jennifer, I'm from the USA and I'm an art teacher and artist... yadda yadda yadda..." When I got to school I found out that I had 4 classes each 50 minutes long and it was up to me to teach them.

I quickly made a lesson plan, including a map of the USA, and some questions for the kids to fill in.... and my first 2-3 classes were just me talking about and introducing myself. I was to teach this lesson 22 times that week and to 700 students. Needless to say, by the 5th lesson I had added some other visuals and perfected my introduction. I also added a speaking and oral introduction part for the students to introduce themselves to the class.

This was all okay because I understand what a lesson plan is, time management, and all those other things that teachers should know after going to school and teaching for a year. But, teaching experience and a teaching degree is in no way needed to be a teacher here. So, I'm just blessed that I got this tough position and understand how to deal with it.

I have heard that most teachers here get a small grace period where their co-teachers at least tell them what to do. I was just thrown to the trenches... into the pit... dance monkey dance!

Another good thing about teaching in Chicago, was I learned to be tough from the start. So, it was obvious to me, that to teach classes of 35 teenage boys at a time, I needed to have some gruffness to me. So, I was quick to lay down the law, and I was quicker to call out the trouble makers. One class said their prior teacher, whom I am now friends with, was nicer and "Why don't you smile like Maggie teacher?". The co-teacher of that class even suggested that I smile more so the students like me. I'd rather have the students behave in class, and do their work, versus walk all over me and therefore, have to struggle to get them to do their work. So, I said I had a plan.

During the second week of class I had a great lesson. It involved American breakfast foods with 2 You Tube Videos of how to make pancakes and another of how to make hash-browns. Then they had a worksheet and a game to play. Most classes LOVED the lesson and the game, and were entertained, so they did not have a problem with behavior. One of the last classes of the week, which was a special-ed class to begin with, decided to continue their bad behavior. At the end of the game the boys just started hitting each other. They were doing so, playfully, but they were still hitting each other. So, I called the first 5 boys that I saw to the front of the room and had them stare at the class. (They had no idea what I was doing) I then told them that if anyone ever hit another person in my class we wouldn't play games anymore. Then, I told the boys at the front they could sit down and the whole class was silent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnCVZozHTG8

All in all, the classes are great! The boys are very nice and the teachers are very supportive to whatever I feel like teaching. That lends itself to be fun, but also a lot of work. Teaching teenagers is not much different than teaching preschoolers. The more visual stimulation and activity they get, the easier it is for them to pay attention. Therefore, I have a lot of work a head of me to keep these kids entertained!

I have so much more to tell you! Keep coming back for more!