Next few jobs...

Ok, so after I worked middle school, elementary school and high
school, I worked at a magnet middle school. They actually behaved
worse than my other "regular" middle schoolers. One class of 7th
graders was especially bad and were throwing paper at each other, and
then at me while I tried to help other students with their
assignments. It was a madhouse! That is still the worst class i've
taught. Part of the problem was the fact that I made them sit in their
assigned seats, and I made them be quiet and do their work. I was
harder on them than on my other classes, and they rebelled- hard.

Next, I went back to high school and worked in special ed. Now, there
are two types of students in special ed. There are the ones with real
learning disabilities and there are the ones that are apathetic and
simply don't want to do their work. The autistic, down's, etc kids
are in a different class- this was a resource class, so they only came
for 1 period. But these kids didnt want to work at all. The ones who
did, had a really hard time grasping simple concepts, and I focused my
time with them. Then the clowns in the class would disrupt the whole
time, so I couldn't even help those who wanted it! Its important to
put Discipline before Instruction- otherwise, you won't be able to
teach anything. The class will be gone.

It still amazes me how many students show up unprepared- no pencils,
no paper, no homework... I let it slide in 3rd grade. By 5th grade
they should know better, and in high school I don't get why it's so
hard to bring a pencil or pen. In every period today, i've had at least
3 or 4 students without a writing utensil. I let one kid borrow a
pencil yesterday... I'll never see that one again! One student today came and
took my pencil off the podium without me knowing- that one's gone too!
Oh boy.

During my stay in one of the high schools, they asked me to sub for one
period with the autistic, Down's syndrome kids, etc. and I was looking
around the classroom. On the board, this was written:
" I hope everyone is at the Best Behavior while I am away!!! IF NOT,
KNOW MOVIE ON FRIDAY!"

I couldn't believe it. It was ridiculous- this teacher was teaching
special ed students- who need more help than normal ones. I love the
use of all CAPITAL letters too!

Another time in middle school, I was with the special ed kids, and they
were learning to read. The handout was on Martin
Luther King Jr. And it had so many typos that I had to keep apologizing to the students who could barely read! How were they supposed to learn to read with something so full of
errors? Please, check your handouts before you give them to the whole
class, especially if your kids can hardly read.