A Frustrating Day on the Job

"And when I count down from 5 to 1 you should be in your seats, mouths closed, looking at me. 5...4...3...2...1!"

::Everyone is still talking.::

Today was one of the most frustrating teaching days that I've experienced thus far. It wasn't that anything went terribly wrong or that one of my kids decided to give me attitude, it's just that...my kids are just too darn chatty!

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised: I mean, they do have me as a teacher! I just never imagined how darn frustrating it can be when trying to redirect the students' focus back to me. Regardless, I feel like 60% of what I'm teaching is continuously classroom management.

It's difficult. As a new, young teacher whose ambitions are nowhere short of "saving the world," balancing classroom management with "fun, creative, energetic ideas" is a huge challenge. I want the students to look forward to coming to school. I want them to know that the classroom is a safe place. I want them to experience learning as something fun. But I also want them to view their education as something very serious and meaningful.

Too many kids in the school in which I work have a "why should I care?" or "what difference does school make?" attitude. I want that attitude to change, yet I already fear the stress and burden of "pacing guides" and 4sight testings to keep up with, leaving very little room for creativity, flexibility, and well...fun.

Not only do I find the secret management tactics of whole group teaching tricky, I'm flabbergasted at the little bit of time teachers get to spend one-on-one with students. How can I teach a mini-lesson to a small group of students and have other students on task with completing another task? I find myself struggling to make time just so I can review basic math facts with students who need to review and learn the basic mathematical functions. In fact, I found myself shifting my entire schedule around today just because I recognized a group of students that were really struggling with rounding. (Too bad about pacing guides, these fourth grade students need to know their place value chart!)

It's ironic, though, how teaching can be both so frustrating and so inspirational. As I told my fiance Adam the other night, "each day that I continue to be frustrated, I'm likewise motivated to find new ways to reteach the concept or to retry management ideas. Teaching is such a great challenge, and finding areas that I struggle with motivate me to become better...for the students."

Sometimes I feel like I'm learning more than the students.

My biggest fear, I told my mentor, "is that I hope I'm not postponing the education of my students because of my 'first year goof-ups. The last thing I want is for my kids to enter 5th grade and be clueless."

In hopes of that not happening, it's back to the drawing board for me. How else can I teach place value? Rounding? Prefix? Vocabulary? Writing? Creativity, I need you now!

Keep reading for more classroom experiences!