My First Year

I taught seniors Social Studies my first year of teaching. First semester, I taught Government. Second Semester, I taught Economics. It was the same periods and the same students, but a whole new class.

My kids did not learn very much first semester. I can't even talk about "data" because I did not assess them enough. Let me recap the mistakes I made first semester and the steps I've taken second semester to change them:

• The Notebook System: The idea was that students did everything in their notebooks and handed it in every three weeks. Not a good idea. If the student forgets their notebook they have an excuse not to work. Some students didn't do any work during class and copied from their friends outside of class. Plus, the students were being informed of their progress every three weeks rather than constantly.
  

Second semester, there was no notebook. The required materials were pen and paper. If a student didn't have either of these, I provided. There was no excuse not to work. I threw paper at them (luckily, the copy machine worked most of second semester). I organized their work and posted grades every week. Students always knew their grade. Sometimes they would complain when they saw how much failing a test hurt their grade, but it's worth it to keep them informed.

• "Behavior Focus": This one might be controversial. First semester, I reacted everytime someone used profanity. When you have 12 people swearing in every period, that's a lot of phone calls home.