Chapter 9: Corralling the Chaos

I have been at the top of my student-teaching mountain for a little while. I am teaching all of Mrs. Dingman's classes, but I see the end of the tunnel coming where I begin to give classes back over to her. What I am experiencing right now gives me so much respect for Mrs. Dingman and other agriculture teacher. They are simply superheros. They teach so many different classes and subject matter in back-to-back periods without flinching. They are truly superheros. The experience having a full class load has been positive and eye-opening to see just how much planning needs to be done beforehand, in order to have a successful class, day, and week.

So, by now you might be wondering what lesson I learned this week. Here it is: how to manage chaos.

This past week had a bumpy start. The seniors had just come off a three-day weekend because of senior skip day, the FFA strawberry fundraiser was going to be delivered, and there was snow in the forecast. Boy, all of these activities and events really stirred up the students. I find it absolutely interesting to see how little things, such as an impending snow day, can totally throw the entire class and day off-kilter. On Tuesday, it was a constant battle to get the students in the classroom and working on bell-work or putting journal entries into AET, their ears were closed and their mouths were open, and I just couldn't seem to get anything accomplished. I did feel better when other teachers where telling me that students were definitely off at lunch (so it just wasn't me), but the frustration of feeling like a bad teacher was still there. So what did I do to manage it?

1. Did the best I could to accomplish me objectives

I will stand by this statement any day of the week. I believe that if I have the mentality of doing the best that I absolutely can every day, I will accomplish my goals and continue to move forward in the classroom with my students. Thus, I stuck to the goal of getting my objectives complete for the day. I may have taken different steps than normal to get there, but at the end of class, I was where we needed to be. Continually telling myself to do the absolute best that I can makes me more confident that I can accomplish what I need to in the classroom.

2. Set small goals throughout the class for students to meet

I could tell right when I greeted students at the door that it was going to be a class of pulling teeth and trying to get at least something accomplished. Thus, I changed by game plan and broke the class into tiny segments in order to keep the students attention (when possible) and to still strive towards the objectives. Thus, class became a game of meeting tiny milestones on our way to achieving the goals of the day. It may have been unconventional, but it worked for me purposes.

3. Went with the flow (within reason, of course)

This is one of the most important traits that a teacher needs to have. When things don't go as planned, when students aren't cooperating, when the lesson takes and sharp turn downward, how we respond as educators can determine what learning occurred in class and how successful we were at meeting our class objectives. Thus, I was willing to have those "teachable moments" with content related to what we were talking about, I was able to let students share stories and ask specific questions because it made them feel a part of the class, not just along for the ride.

This week was probably the toughest thus far, even with a "snow" day. I have all the classes, it is nonstop go, go, go, and we are amidst FFA activities. But, this experience has truthfully been great thus far and I am so exited to finish these last few weeks out.