This year vs Last Year

Seeing how I am at a new school I am not sure how good this comparison will be. I love my new school. Although it is just as unorganized as the school I came from in the Delta, the kids are much better behaved. I am not sure if the kids are better behaved or if I am a better disciplinarian. Something that I found is that the students are the same. These are the same children just in a better school. I still teach the at- risk students, which I love. The first week of this year was a lot better than the first week of last year. I was more organized and not as nervous. One of the things that I learned over the course of last year is that, I control my classroom. If I allow my kids to control the classroom they will. But this year I was determined that they would not control my room. I would control my room. Because of this attitude, I have had no major discipline problems. I have still given out a few writing assignment, and I have also written a few kids up. But no major problems have occurred. This year I feel as if my kids respect me more. It is also so much easier to say “No.” That has become my favorite response. Last year I had five rules, and this year I only have three. These rules are working great for me. I think, this year I better communicated my expectation to the students. I spent a whole day on expectations. Also this year I have more student- conference when kids break the rules or expectations. I have found once I tell them what I expect, their behave changes and the student and I develop a better understanding of one another. Over all this year has been great so far!! The only thing I dread is waking up so early in the morning.