summercomfort (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
summercomfort) wrote2009-09-04 04:51 pm
summercomfort) wrote2009-09-04 04:51 pm
School!
So School has started again. I'm feeling much better about this year. For one thing, I'm no longer a transient at the school. Last year I was 40%, which meant I showed up, taught 2 classes, and then left. This year, I'm at 80%, which means I teach 3 classes plus Advocacy plus go to assemblies and other things that happen every other day. Logistically, this means I'm on campus from 8am to at least 5pm every weekday. I also now have my own office that I can set up to my liking.
This is all very good! It makes me feel more integrated into school life, plus I focus much better in my office, which means I get a lot more work done. I've started leaving my school work at home, which is exciting -- it means that when I leave school, I can work on my own stuff, relax, hang out, etc. I'm also at a much better place than my first year-- back then, I would stay at school until midnight before all my work is done. This year, I already have some lesson-planning done, and I'm already familiar with the atmosphere of the school. Which is why I can leave at 6pm and only deal with emails at home.
Exciting things at school this year:
- We started a class blog! The students are slowly getting the hang of it. It's pretty cool to see.
- I now have an advocacy! These are 10 kids that I'm mother hen to. They're all pretty cool people. One of them is in the upcoming school musical, which is Into the Woods!! Yay!
- I'll be teaching a Knight School course this year. Basically, 1 week where I get to teach a random thing. The course description is due in a month, and then the students get to sign up for what interests them. I'm not sure yet what I want to teach. Maybe comicking?Maybe a class where we watch anime?
- I will be SO Professionally Developed. I'm in both the first and second year seminars that Menlo has. PLUS I'm doing Year 2 of my BTSA certification. So, like, I'll be reflecting the heck out of everything.
Final thought:
To be a teacher, there is an odd thing you have to do with your head. On the one hand, you need to care deeply about making an impact, helping kids learn and think, and continually strive towards perfection. On the other hand, you can't stress over failure to reach that ideal. Every single class there's something that I could have done better. My first year, I would worry that I'm doing damage to a student's future -- "I didn't teach writing the right way." "They don't know the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution"... etc etc. I didn't have enough time to prep, so lots of things I was doing "live" and hoping that at the end of 90 minutes it wasn't a waste of everyone's time. But now I know it will always be "live", because students are different year-to-year, class by class. Instead, it's really about salvaging what you can tomorrow, and doing better next year. And the next. It's a constant cycle of reflection and self-improvement, no regrets!
This is all very good! It makes me feel more integrated into school life, plus I focus much better in my office, which means I get a lot more work done. I've started leaving my school work at home, which is exciting -- it means that when I leave school, I can work on my own stuff, relax, hang out, etc. I'm also at a much better place than my first year-- back then, I would stay at school until midnight before all my work is done. This year, I already have some lesson-planning done, and I'm already familiar with the atmosphere of the school. Which is why I can leave at 6pm and only deal with emails at home.
Exciting things at school this year:
- We started a class blog! The students are slowly getting the hang of it. It's pretty cool to see.
- I now have an advocacy! These are 10 kids that I'm mother hen to. They're all pretty cool people. One of them is in the upcoming school musical, which is Into the Woods!! Yay!
- I'll be teaching a Knight School course this year. Basically, 1 week where I get to teach a random thing. The course description is due in a month, and then the students get to sign up for what interests them. I'm not sure yet what I want to teach. Maybe comicking?
- I will be SO Professionally Developed. I'm in both the first and second year seminars that Menlo has. PLUS I'm doing Year 2 of my BTSA certification. So, like, I'll be reflecting the heck out of everything.
Final thought:
To be a teacher, there is an odd thing you have to do with your head. On the one hand, you need to care deeply about making an impact, helping kids learn and think, and continually strive towards perfection. On the other hand, you can't stress over failure to reach that ideal. Every single class there's something that I could have done better. My first year, I would worry that I'm doing damage to a student's future -- "I didn't teach writing the right way." "They don't know the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution"... etc etc. I didn't have enough time to prep, so lots of things I was doing "live" and hoping that at the end of 90 minutes it wasn't a waste of everyone's time. But now I know it will always be "live", because students are different year-to-year, class by class. Instead, it's really about salvaging what you can tomorrow, and doing better next year. And the next. It's a constant cycle of reflection and self-improvement, no regrets!
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That's funny; I recently had almost exactly the same thought about the process of overcoming inertia. I think it's probably true of growth in general.
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