Student cheating

Sitting Alone
Originally uploaded by naraekim0801

This past week I had my first experience with students cheating in my class. Four of my more "energetic" students thought it would be a good idea to hand in the same drawing assignment. How do I know it was the same assignment? Well the geometry that the students had to create had the exact same blatant errors on all the drawings and since they handed them in all at the exact same time it was pretty easy to recognize the pattern. It kind of shocked me. I always kind of expected at some point in my career that I would come across students trying to get away without doing the work, but it was still disappointing.
I chose to call all the students to my desk and explain the situation. They didn't really deny it or fight back. I gave them all zero on the assignment. They didn't seem to concerned with the consequences of their actions. I didn't know if further action should be taken, such as a phone call home, but I figured if my son or daughter did something like this at school I would want to know. I made the phone calls home and each parent was thankful for the call and one parent even asked if I could send the assignment home with the student so she could make her son still do the assignment even though he would not receive any marks for it.
As a result of this incident the students involved seem to take the class and myself more seriously. Also, this has provided me the opportunity to make contact with the home and start to develop a relationship with my students home life. It was a real positive experience speaking with the parents and I felt as though I had an ally on my side as I tried to show these students the right and wrong of their actions.
This experience has reinforced to me just how important parental/guardian involvement is to the success of a student.

Feeling guilty about "not" teaching

So my new job is teaching in a non-traditional subject...drafting/architecture. Coming from a math background this is new territory for me. I am used to alot of direct instruction and playing the "sage on the stage" bit (although I was working on eliminating that as much as possible). Now I find myself in the role of "guide at the side" and it is really uncomfortable. I feel like I am not doing my job or doing a good enough job because I feel like I am letting my students discover learning and figure it out on their own by doing "it" rather than having me show "it". It's ironic because in my other area of specialty this is exactly what I was trying so hard to accomplish, now I have it and it doesn't feel natural. I guess it goes to show that it is one thing for a teacher to preach about giving up control to the students and it is another to actually have that happen. As I get used to this new role I am trying to find ways to be as effective as possible in this style. I do feel it will benefit the students more in the long run, I just need to adjust. This area of content is really well suited to problem based learning and experiential learning which is also foreign to math teachers.
I am excited with the possibilities that this will bring and I am confident that the experience that I will gain will make me a much more effective teacher if I ever do have to return to the math classroom.

First teaching job

So I am officially a working teacher. Now I graduated in December, thus, I was a teacher but now I am actually about to get paid to be one. It's exciting, scary and really overwhelming all in one breath. This picture says it best. I am barely keeping my head above water and then I turn around and there is another wave of doubt, frustration and anxiety that must be overcome as I proceed down my journey of teaching. I wonder if this is where the term "sink or swim" comes into play?
I know these feelings will pass and it will just take some time to get into a new routine and get comfortable with what I am teaching and how everything operates. Before as an intern at least there was someone in the room with you, now I'm THE teacher...what have I got myself into? It all comes down to change. It's funny, we know nothing stays the same forever and that to grow and evolve we must face change and even seek it out, yet when it gets here we wonder if we will ever experience "normal" again. I think I read somewhere, or someone told me that the feelings of being uncomfortable and uneasy is a sign that we are growing and developing as a person. Well if that is the case, there is a whole lot of growing and developing going on with me right now. I liken it to the analogy of a rock tumbler. You throw the rough, unfinished and raw rock in, it gets tossed around a bit and shaken up and then out comes this lovely unrecognizable piece of wonder. Maybe that is what is happening here. I get thrown into an unfamiliar situation, forced to "sink or swim", and challenged to put to use that which I have been taught and that which I have not. My hope is that I come out the other side, first of all alive, and second a more confident, effective and relaxed teacher and person.
If it was easy, everyone would do it.