Classroom Management Problems :(

So one month of teaching has gone by (almost!) and my three and a half classes are going pretty well so far! My grade 10, 11 and 12s are all friendly, respectful, attentive (for the most part!) and fun.  However, my grade 9 class is driving me bonkers!

I teach in a small town where everybody has known each other for years.  I don't know if that adds to the chaos, but my grade nines just can't seem to stop talking!  I have finally trained them to pay attention to me when I am standing in front of the room and teaching or giving instructions.  However, whenever they are working in their desks individually or in groups, they get super loud and rambunctious including yelling and sometimes even pushing and shoving (all in good fun, but still not what a teacher wants to see!).

When we did stations at the beginning of the year, however, those worked amazingly well.  Perhaps I will have to do more station work - but I don't want to overdue that.  Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

First Day of Teaching.... EVER!

So after two PD days, the students finally arrived in classes today!

I am teaching grade 9 math, grade 11 and 12 Applied math this semester.  I started all of my classes off by having the students complete a survey so I can learn more about them.  These students are from a very small community so they have known each other forever - that is why I decided against any ice breakers.  The survey had basic get to know you questions on the front, and on the back, I asked about their experiences in math classes before, as well as three things they didn't understand from last year.  The second last question I asked them to ask me a question - which I will answer in tomorrow's class.  The final question I asked students to tell me what they needed me to do as a teacher in order for them to succeed in class - I got a few interesting responses including spend time answering questions, explain things many times, and be available for extra help.  I thought those were pretty standard math teacher qualities and things I do all the time.  I am new to the school and the students do not know me, however, so hopefully they will see that I do all of those things (and more!) while teaching.

After that, I went over my class brochure (course outline) which I posted in a previous post.

Finally, we got to whiteboarding! I forgot to take pictures, but the students were super involved and excited.  Most students worked right until the bell and some even indicated they would go home and look at the question some more.  All of my students had never heard of whiteboarding before, so it was definitely a novel experience.

I gave each class one problem to work on (the Grade 12 class actually did both the Grade 11 and Grade 12 problems - I think I may have helped too much with the first problem I gave them).

The grade 9's worked on the 8 adults and 2 children crossing a river problem (Moar River-Crossing) from Writing to Learn to Teach.

The grade 11's worked on the Queens on a Chessboard problem, from Stella's Stunners.

Finally, the grade 12's worked on Digit Cells, from Stella's Stunners as well.

I chose these problems because they have a low entry - basically guess and check.  As I barely know these students, I wanted to see how comfortable they would be with problem solving.  I was surprised at how willing these students were to work through these problems, and still persisted even after erasing the whiteboards countless times trying to solve the Queens on a Chessboard problem.

After the grade 12's solved their first problem, I told them I had another one for them and they were excited!

Yay! It was a good first day (EVER!) for me! :)

Getting Back Into Blogging!

I haven’t written anything on this blog for almost a year!  Last year I started with the New Blogger Initiation and kind of fell off the bandwagon before the end.

With my final year of University and practicum completed, I am ready to jump back on the bandwagon!

Where I live, there are too many teachers and not enough teaching positions.  However, I am extremely lucky to say that I have a term teaching position for next year in a small high school!  I am teaching every single high school math course over the course of the year (including Grades 9 Math, Pre-Calculus, and Applied Math) with the exception of the Essentials Mathematics courses.  I am extremely grateful for this opportunity and am looking forward to my first year of teaching!

So, with a month and a half left to go, I have started planning what I want my classroom to look like and what types of routines, procedures, and activities (including whiteboarding!) that I want to incorporate into my classroom.  I just ordered 6 23x17 whiteboards to use in my classroom which I am super excited about!

I also stole the brochure idea instead of a boring class outline from Sarah at Alwilda’s Daughter and from Kristin at hoppe ninja math.  My Grade 9 version is here if you want to take a look!

So if any of you out there have any advice on classroom set up, organization, etc. for a first year teacher, let me know in the comments!