New teacher and overwhelmed...advice?

TheLordsCanary

Hello,

I posted this to The Nest also, but I need as much advice as I can get.

 

 I am a first year teacher, just graduated university in December. I felt so lucky to have found my first teaching job at a small local Catholic school teaching Spanish, Music, Computer, and Enrichment (which is basically almost like being a teacher's aide for the last hour of the day). After about 3 weeks of being on the job, I am starting to feel not so lucky. I know that I should just be grateful that I have a job at all, but I am so overwhelmed that I just don't know what to do.

 

First of all I teach 3 subjects for which I am the primary teacher, meaning I do all the planning. I teach music and Spanish K-8, giving me 18 separate preps on those subjects alone. I also teach computer for K-4, adding on another 5 preps. And if the other teachers decide that I need to plan lessons as part of my Enrichment duties, that adds on another 3 preps. That totals up to 23 preps required, 26 if the other teachers decide to give them to me.

 

 I am new to this field, so I am inexperienced anyway, and on top of that I was not certified as an elementary teacher OR in any of these subjects (my certification is for high school English). Is it normal to have so many preps in elementary school? Student teaching in a high school I only had 2 preps and the most that any teacher had was 3. I was also given almost no information regarding curriculum for my current job, so I am creating my own completely from scratch, which I did not know that I would have to do when I took the job. Because of repairs to the building I was not able to even see the textbooks until about a week before school began. I am lost. I am overwhelmed. I am getting severely depressed because I do not think that I have the capability to do this job as well as my students deserve. I hate to sound whiny or lazy, but I am really at a loss.

What should I do?

HobokensFury

Sorry you're going through this. I hate to tell you this but you are being abused by your school. No on can handle 23 different preps. Is there anyway to combine the preps to cut down on planning time. My husband teachers both computers and art from PK3 -8. In your terms it is 24 preps but it's actually not.  He teaches the same lesson to PK-3 -1, 2-5, and 6-8 so it cuts planning down to 6.  The assignments vary slightly but it's only an extra line in the lesson plan instead of a totally new one.  I don't honestly think the P expects you to do something totally different with each grade level. I know you want to do a great job but please don't make yourself sick over it.

jennylee813

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_chit-chat_new-teacher-and-overwhelmedadvice?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:14Discussion:695bbf6d-b9b5-4b1d-8705-0c851c9e8619Post:c804876b-a83a-4a45-882e-2cdbe254b2ed">Re: New teacher and overwhelmed...advice?</a>:
[QUOTE]Sorry you're going through this. I hate to tell you this but you are being abused by your school. No on can handle 23 different preps. Is there anyway to combine the preps to cut down on planning time. My husband teachers both computers and art from PK3 -8. In your terms it is 24 preps but it's actually not.  He teaches the same lesson to PK-3 -1, 2-5, and 6-8 so it cuts planning down to 6.  The assignments vary slightly but it's only an extra line in the lesson plan instead of a totally new one. <strong> I don't honestly think the P expects you to do something totally different with each grade level. I know you want to do a great job but please don't make yourself sick over it.
</strong>Posted by HobokenBride2012[/QUOTE]

I agree with this. Most likely the principal expects you to do the same sorts of things with each class, just making it more basic for the younger students, and adding things for the older ones. If it was me, I'd work on theme units, build one plan for the 'middle' and adjust it for the upper and lower end.

And it does sound like you're being taken advantage of to a point. I know that for me, I am responsible for enrichment/remedial work for students that have documented need in my classes. I am supposed to help them with the current curriculum but also provide additional supports for those who need them.

There should also be some state curriculum guidelines available online to at least steer you in the right direction.

The first year is the toughest (I'm on year two). Do the job as best you can, but as PP said, don't make yourself sick over it. That does no one any good.

lindseyann410

I'm sorry; I totally understand what you're going through.  As a student teacher, I had 6 different preps, and I thought that was a lot!

First of all, breathe.  Take time for yourself at home instead of spending every waking moment with school stuff.  When I was student teacher, I worked through lunch and didn't really eat dinner either because I was so busy planning and grading. It wasn't healthy, and I almost had a breakdown.  No one is going to angry if you do stuff that will make things simpler for yourself the first few months.

Obviously you can't teacher 23 different classes in one day, so how is it broken down?  Do you teach each grade music once a week?  Is Spanish every day? What levels?  Walk us through a typical day.  

Use your books/ workbooks.  I know it's not that exciting, but it will save you time until you feel like you have control of the situation.  Also, do you have a mentor?  They are a great resource.  If not, talk to a co-worker or the principal.  

Good luck!

TheLordsCanary

All of my classes are once a week, so I have Spanish for each grade once a week, music once a week, enrichment once a week, and computer once a week. K-4 are switching their schedule so that instead of meeting for Spanish once a week for an hour and for music the same, they are still meeting twice a week for an hour but the classes are a half hour of each subject. I know, it's confusing. Sorry about that.

I am loving the idea of making a "middle" lesson plan and then adjusting it up and down. That way it will cut everything down to 3 classes, essentially, per subject instead of 9.

The textbooks are not super helpful, but I am trying to get what I can out of them. It would help a lot if I had any real idea what the previous teacher did, but she left me with very little information, unfortunately. The only thing I have is her lesson plans but they are in her shorthand, and she took all her activities with her, so I have little to no idea to what most of her plans are referring. It'll say something like "Rhythm activity 3" and I have no way of knowing what that activity was supposed to be. It is very frustrating.