Back to the Drawing Board

This week our LOTW was the letter Oo, but in all honesty I don't think my students got very much out of this week so I won't be posting about our curriculum. Instead, I'd like to focus this week's post on classroom management. My classroom management (or lack thereof) just got out of hand and I've chosen to go back to the start. After talking to other teachers on my team and really reflecting on my classroom management system I've realized that I have not provided enough support/scaffolding for my students to succeed and meet my expectations. All week long we practiced our classroom rules and expectations. We practiced, and practiced, and practiced some more. We role played different scenarios during our Good Morning Circle time. Teaching kindergarten is so much more than simply teaching the ABCs. I have to teach the routine. Without a solid foundation, I know the remainder of this school year is going to be a struggle.

So now, I go back to the drawing board. This weekend I'm taking the time to flesh out all the little things and figure out a way to get my students on board. Come Monday, I'm going to scale everything back and reintroduce and reteach everything from the very basics. I feel like I'm failing at my job right now. It's not a comfortable feeling by any means, but I know this experience will make me a better teacher. Is this how most, if not all, teachers feel their first year?

On a lighter note, some friends of my mine from grad school told me about a great website called donorschoose.org where teachers can post up various projects for things they need. People from all over can then choose to donate to help make the project a reality. I am in the process of submitting a project to get my classroom a real rug. Right now my students are sitting on colored tape, not the best option for kindergartners as you can imagine. My students are always playing with the tape and I'm dreading how annoyed the custodians will be at the end of the year with the leftover tape residue. I got some great ideas for some temporary fixes to my rug problem, but I'm really hoping I can get a real rug in before 2013. Anyways, check out my donorschoose page here. Anything helps! :)

Enjoy the beautiful weekend and happy teaching!