One of the questions that I am asked is so which do you like better: teaching third or second grade? My answer is a qualified… I don’t know. I can say that I am enjoying this year, professionally at least, fifty times better than last year, but I can’t really say that I enjoyed teaching one grade over the other because of a few factors:
+The class that I have this year is drastically different from last year. I have commented many times in this blog that I don’t like one class over the other, but this year’s class is much easier to handle than last. Not really sure if what I am seeing is a little more maturity because they are third graders or it is just my class.
+This is only my second year of teaching. I don’t know if the differences that I see between the grades are caused by maturity of the kids of a year’s more maturity in me. I did start this year differently, I started out the year mean and I have gradually let up. Last year, kind of by default, I did the opposite and I think that strategy (or rather lack thereof) contributed to some of the problems that I experienced last year.
One thing that I do know: this time last year I was praying for a snow day. I was tired and I kept saying to myself “There is no way I can do this for thirty years.” I don’t feel that way this year, and I think that the two reasons as well as the slight change in maturity in the kids has made this year not as… oh I can’t even think of a word to describe what I felt.
And now for something completely different, well almost:
___
Third graders must think that the water from the water fountain out in the hall is magical. They certainly don’t like to get water from the one in the back of the room. The fountain in the hall is right there by my room so it is not like they get to be out of the room for a long time. They could probably waste more time by going to the one in the back of the room, but the water from the fountain in the hall tastes better, or at least that is what they tell me. Actually I think that they like it better because it is colder. That or it really is the fountain of youth. And the Spanish thought that it was in Florida, it was out in the hall all the time!
___
Being the Social Studies Curriculum contact has been quite eye opening. The most valuable information that I have gained has been information on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP). Last year, because of the financial situation of the state, Missouri decided not to fund the science and social studies portions of the MAP test. Schools were given the option of funding the tests themselves or not giving those sections of the test at all. My district was one of the few districts in the state who decided not to take those tests. However through a rather strange series of events, including an extension of the sign up date to take the test and a statistical anomaly in our scores three years ago, it is a very good chance that we will be giving the tests. That came as a shock to some teachers who were not as diligent in teaching those subjects this year. Shocking, I know, but it happens.
___
Yesterday I received two prank calls. The first was 3:45 in the morning. I got up and stumbled into look at the Caller ID. It said anonymous caller. I didn’t answer; I just went back to bed. Then again, this time at 11:05 at night, I was asleep and the phone rang. I ran to look at the Caller ID, anonymous caller. This time I answered, “Hello?”
“Ah, Chris?”
“Yeah.”
“[Edited for content, needless to say, it made me angry.]”
I hung up the phone and then couldn’t go to sleep for the rest of the night. They were high school or college age. I guess I will have to change my phone number and get it unlisted. Hopefully they have moved on to bother someone else.
Class dismissed!
