My Next Year Teaching

Teachers tend to resort to optimism when the crossover is happening.
We are moving into the fourth quarter of the year, and it is all happening so quickly. I've been training my teacher-brain with hands-on experience for eight months. My worst fears about the first day of school are pretty far behind me. Instead of anxiety I feel nostalgia. I gave surveys yesterday to all classes for ideas of how to change my class for next year. Got some very honest responses. I will mix those in between some reflections or tidbits of advice that have sustained long enough to make it to this first entry of my new teaching blog.

- READ TO THEM. From good books. Even if they say it is boring. Because:

- They are always listening, always watching. Some topics are so sensitive, you can't avoid talking about them because to ignore another human being's experience is to perpetuate suffering. I used to kind of smirk and sigh "Oh, John Dewey," about the buzzword "teachable moments," but they constantly exist. Socialization and thinking skills are imbedded in a hidden curriculum in every classroom. Who will be around to act as guide in those moments when life itself is the education?

- This job is really hard.

- Speaking of social skills, kids love to work together. They love to correct each other's mistakes, politely of course and in the name of learning. They get a lot out of seeing each other perform tasks reliably. And most would like to be friends and colleagues but most are not that organized. So we play games that basically force them to learn and that works and we have fun.

- You have got to be organized, teacher. Hopefully as my school transitions into using an online client for all record-keeping and inter-communication, my job will only get easier. I have to have my procedures organized as well as my physical space. Gotta start buying a different lesson plan book because most of my info is on flash drive.

- Computers help but also hinder my work. The kids don't all have a computer so we have to do a lot of things on worksheets. Kids break and lose everything so it gets expensive. They light up when you tell them they get to type in class. They don't know how to do simple things like save or format a document, though I think they could learn. I still don't have a digital overhead projector in my classroom.

- Sometimes I do things "my way" and nobody complains so we just keep on trucking.

- The roller coaster ride gets much easier when you get your sea legs. Some days the emotional assault isn't even real, some days it is and it comes from a very distant and bizarre place outside of the school walls and you just have to brace yourself and respond with dignity.

- It was Dr. Seuss's birthday this week.

- Let them write.