Saturday, October 13, 2007

Taking Some Initiative

Now that I've finished my master's degree, I've been stepping up more at work and getting more involved with clubs and such. My reason for doing so is because now I've got a ton of time on my hands and feel like I can contribute a lot to my school. It's a double edged sword though, my reasons. On the one hand I am doing this because I want to be noticed by administration. It just so happened to work out perfectly that our new administration came at the exact time that I finished my program. While taking my master's, I didn't really involve myself in extra-curricular things as studying took up any free time that I may have had. I'm now determined to show my usefulness and prove that I am a great asset to the staff. The other reason that I'm doing all this is because I actually want to. I enjoy getting involved and getting my ideas out there. It's good for me to show people just what I am capable of doing. It's time to let my true potential shine through.

This has been happening with my class as well. I've got lots of ideas for improving our program and am doing things differently than I did last year - trying to make it more fun for my students while having them learn all along. Basically I'm trying to trick them to learn. This year I have one of the lowest classes I've ever had with regards to their ability to read. I've got a good half of my students who are at level 0 or level 1 which isn't good considering that when students enter grade 1 they should be at a level 6. I feel badly for saying this but it makes me wonder what the hell they did in Kindergarten. It also makes me very close to asking for the SK position next year so that I would be sure that by the end those kids would definitely know their letter sounds and how to read even at a basic level. Because I haven't been so frustrated in my life. These kids don't know their letters ... never mind what the letters say. AHHHHHH!!! I still have another 2 months or so before 1st term report cards. I'll have to see how far I can get them by then.

3 comments:

the anonymous teacher said...

Good luck with it!! I know how frustrating it is to wonder what in the world they're doing in the lower grades...I get freshmen and simply can't figure out how they've spent their past eight or so years. I know it's not all the teachers and such...but I think it's only natural to wonder.

IMC Guy said...

I, too, am amazed at how low some of our primary students are. I'm very surprised and I do put much of the blame on the parents. Obviously there is not enough emphasis on reading readiness at home in the early ages.

I can't wait to hear more about your year!

IMC Guy said...
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