Being a Teacher

Well here I am in the second year of teaching and I love it. My first year was fairly frustrating and discouraging. I had some high points and managed to stay optimistic enough to look forward to my next year. Now here I am in year two and in some ways I feel like I am just learning how to teach. What am I doing right that I wasn't doing last year? I didn't feel confident enough to require many exams last year. This year I develop an exam at the end of every unit. I am still working on how to present information and then how to reinforce and practice concepts. So my biggest struggle is designing activities and assignments that reteach or practice concepts. I am much stronger at delivering my lessons; I place emphasis on a daily objective so students are aware of what the point of the day is. I am carrying out units that extend over a semester in between required units- that makes me more productive. The students complain because they don’t like to multitask. Heck- most of them have never worked as hard as I am asking them to do. A typical day involves writing around 3 pages of notes, brainstorming, projects, or assignments. When we read I ask students to paraphrase everything and keep a record. Finally, I give minimal directions so that students are forced to use their imaginations and tap personal opinions and thoughts. The last thing I want is to read 150 papers/projects that are all copies of each other. I offer my students alternatives to the required assignment at nearly every turn. What I still need to work on is giving detailed directions to my classes that are most talkative. If they have one second of down time they loose focus and act helpless. When they have directions and steps that are clearly outlined they are productive and better focused. I have several classes that can handle and are comfortable with my preferred method of teaching and two groups that need tight concise directions. I will be starting new units by the end of next week- wow! Each group has survived two units so far and is on the way to a third. I really enjoy what I am teaching- American and British literature. I hated teaching via genre study it just didn’t make sense to me and I had trouble making meaning of it. Teaching with history as a framework along side the literature is right up my alley.

I am looking forward to work nearly every day and am constantly challenging myself to be creative and effective as a teacher. I am measuring how well my students are learning and am still developing as a professional. I have noticed that my colleagues are taking notice of my dedication and have started asking for my help and acknowledging me as an equal. I was evaluated by one of the administrators last week and was given compliments and praise both in my planning and execution of my lesson. I varied what activities we would have and made sure that the lesson was not only teacher led but student driven as well. It isn’t easy to make literature that is so far removed from my students relevant to them. I’m talking colonial Puritan literature, which preaches fire and brimstone and everlasting damnation. So I’ll have students look to modern newspapers to find echoes of puritan values and philosophies still present today. I’m still developing the activity so we’ll see how it goes over. But here I am- I love my job and every day I finally feel like I have the ability to improve and carry out my own visions.

After a year plus of pushing forward and not having a ton of confidence I am so grateful and happy to be where I am now. I'm not trying to toot my own horn just express my great relief and gratitude.

Tooth Fairy

I wish the tooth fairy would stop visiting our home. Yikes the teeth that have been lost!! It seems like the kids loose a tooth every month. (In truth more like every other month.) The kids are getting 'coin rich' from all those gaps in their smiling faces.
Anthony lost a tooth today. His tooth was hurting as he tried to eat dinner. So he asked me to pull it. A slow pull up and a bit of blood and he is ready for bed. (Never mind that it is 3 hours early.)