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Adjusting To and Accommodating An Assistant TeacherOctober 12, 2008 by Miss Norma | No comments

I had a couple of rough weeks. My computer broke down and I was having difficulty with my assistant teacher.

It has been really hard adjusting to being a head teacher and delegating duties to my assistant. I was having difficulty with the way she works in the classroom. I am also used to having someone free to watch the classroom and help the children that need assistance. I felt she was constantly down while I was giving lessons and had too many disruptions since there was no one for the children to just go to and ask for help.

I think she does not give the children enough freedom to choose their work and to be independent. I was expecting to go into the classroom with the children having the freedom to watch other friends at work or observe the classroom and choose work independently. But I was seeing it differently than my assistant teacher. She has been with the children for a couple of years so she new them more then I. I felt she took that to an extent where she was not allowing the children to make their own choices. I do agree that sometimes you need to make choices for them but that is only if they are not choosing any work and are being disruptive. I also felt that even though some children were not challenging themselves to their full extent we did not need to push them so much, since they just came back from summer break and needed an adjustment period.

So I have had to get used to some of her ways and try to get her to understand my ways. This week is going much better with her. She is more open to my changes and ways. We are planning together and agreeing on things together so that is so much better than having to feel like you are alone and having to convince someone to do things your way.

Aside from all of that I love my group of children. They are so smart and eager to learn and that makes it so much easier on me. I have a few children who are in the period of just constantly vocally communicating everything so that classroom at times can be noisy.

This week I have been trying to have the children get used to being responsible for their self and their choices. I want them to be able to realize that they are in control of themselves and the decisions they make. So we have been talking about making good choices and worrying about one self.

It has been a couple of weeks of getting to know myself, my assistant teacher and my students. It has been a bumpy, but a knowledge full, roller coaster.