the Teacher thread!

[aMD]

In your classroom you were teaching... that was you...

I know there are many teachers on the board.  This is our thread to share stories, complaints, joys, news, and all matters as they relate to teaching.

I teach third grade, what about you?

[mjkoehler]

I was a teacher for a short time. Big mistake for me. Most kids in High School do not care for History, know matter how creative you make it. I left and never went back as I couldn't take the bad attitude from the kids (it was REALLY bad). Looking back, I should have focused on Elementary Ed instead of Secondary. I would have found that much more rewarding.

I have the utmost respect for teachers and just wish they were better taken care of (more respect and better pay). It's just sad that someone like an executive at a company who's primary job is to schmooze and to say yes or no to other peoples work gets paid millions while someone who is educating and shaping their kids future isn't paid that great.

[crazylove]

Great thread, Dylan!

I have a joyful story to share.  

And by the way, all, I love my high school students.  Sure there are those who don't give a crap, but there are those who really do want to learn and those who struggle but give it their best.  That's what keeps me going.
(Plus all the stories you get to hear, some you want to hear and some,  not so much!)

Our High School started a Best Buddies chapter last year.  It really didn't do so well.  We had a total of 18 kids involved, 6 Buddy pairs.  I was one of 4 faculty advisor's.
This year I decided I would give it my all.  We got a great kid in as President, and started planning.  

We had our first Chapter meeting  was last Thursday.  We now have 64 members, and 26 Buddy pairs.  We've worked really hard to match up the right people and it was a roaring success!  I couldn't be prouder of these great kids.  It proves that there are still good kids who do want to make a difference.  

We already have plans for a Halloween party and major fund raiser.  And  everyone is on on board and very enthusiastic.

There is hope for the future!
http://www.bestbuddies.org

[tomEisenbraun]

Very cool!

I'm in my junior year of college, being educated for a future of teaching High School English. It's very excited, I dabbled with the idea of history for a few months, but I am back to English and even more sure of why I'm here. I am very very excited to get into student-teaching and working my way into the classroom! Any teachers have any advice for someone nearing the end of their schooling for teaching?

[mjkoehler]

resume resume resume. Make it creative but not gawdy. You want it to catch their eye, but in a good way. Get to really know the school district you are interested in and the school itself.

And make 10000000% sure it is what you want.

Current teachers will probably have better advice. It's been almost 10 years since I taught.

[Gripe]

Very cool!

I'm in my junior year of college, being educated for a future of teaching High School English. [highlight]It's very excited, I dabbled with the idea of history for a few months, but I am back to English and even more sure of why I'm here.[/highlight] I am very very excited to get into student-teaching and working my way into the classroom! Any teachers have any advice for someone nearing the end of their schooling for teaching?

Good luck. ;)

[aMD]

Tom, I think Gripe just taught you a lesson.  Teacher's are often expected to be perfect, for better or worse, people always think that YOU should be better at your job.  

My advice to new teachers is don't rely on, or even believe in some cases, what you've learned in school about education.  The game changes when you're actually in the classroom for the first time.  You just have to find the confidence to do what you know is best for your kids, not the district, not the state, not the feds, not the principal, not the teacher next door, it doesn't even matter what's best for you, the kids have to come first.  There's about a million other things, but I think that's probably the most important.

[megisnotreal]

my mom is an exceptional ed teacher (ebd unit). if any of y'all do that, then i respect the hell out of you. i don't know how she has the patience or level of understanding that she does. i tried one time to work as her assistant, but i had to quit. it was too hard, seeing what these kids has gone through. i was way too frustrated for these kids, and it made me sick to know i couldn't ever just tell their parents off.

it takes a really strong person to work in ebd units. i used to want to be a teacher, but i just don't have the will it takes. how do you all do it? i mean, in the six months i worked there, i wanted to just scream at these parents. like, quit doing irresponsible shit and take care of your BABIES. and the kids, oh my god, they were so little but they were so strong. i can't even FATHOM dealing with what these babies went through.

bottom line: i respect anyone who can work in that field. period.

[tomEisenbraun]

Very cool!

I'm in my junior year of college, being educated for a future of teaching High School English. [highlight]It's very excited, I dabbled with the idea of history for a few months, but I am back to English and even more sure of why I'm here.[/highlight] I am very very excited to get into student-teaching and working my way into the classroom! Any teachers have any advice for someone nearing the end of their schooling for teaching?

Good luck. ;)

haha, thanks!

my lady (who's a music education major) often gives me crap about being a better English major than I am. it's normally well-deserved. (might I mention that I was also suffering through surround-sounded NASCAR while I was trying to form that sentence?)

aMD, i know exactly what you're getting at. I'm not going into teaching because I love English, I'm going into teaching because I've got this God-given responsibility to make a difference in my student's lives. English is the vehicle for starting that. I hope to be more a mentor than a teacher, and I hope to offer myself as a teacher more dedicated to his students than most. I hope to be the one that other teachers think is crazy because of the way I devote myself to it. I also understand I have this responsibility until the day I can't devote myself to that anymore, and I will resign as soon or as far down the road as I need to, but not a second late. Does that make sense?

My lady's dad has shown me, through the many different careers he's been through, that there are distinctly different phases of your life and you've got to be willing to follow each new one as it comes. He began as a teacher, worked for one of the world's leading gun manufacturers, trained the world's (seriously) police forces, blew up stuff in other countries, and is now working for one of the world's largest video server companies. And he's been exactly where he needed to be for exactly as long as he's needed to be. He made a huge difference in his student's lives, and changed the world through teaching high school biology for 7 years. But when he couldn't do it any longer because the administration sapped his vigor for teaching from him, he didn't waste anyone's time and got on out of there. It was worth it more to him to be entirely genuine in everything he does than to remain in what he went through school for because he didn't know what else was out there for him.

I'm prepared and scared shitless for that, but I understand right now that I could teach for the rest of my life, or I could teach for less than ten years. But regardless, I don't know the step after that, and I know that the passion of my young life needs to be directed into teaching these kids, making a difference in their lives, and getting them to think about who they are, what they're doing, and where they're going. I'm also overly idealistic, but I'd rather have my dreams shattered by hoping for too much than not caring.

End.

[TEO]

Find an age group you REALLY enjoy being around and try to stick with it.    :)  

[aMD]

Find an age group you REALLY enjoy being around and try to stick with it.    :)  

good advice. i thought i wanted to teach high school until i subbed for two years at every grade level.  Third grade is really the place for me.  The kids are genuine, their natural born love of learning has yet to be squelched (for most), neither has their their imagination, they don't have horrible attitudes, and you don't have to wipe noses. I love it!

Today was parent-teacher conference day which is always stressful but I had so much positive feedback from the parents it wasn't a bad day at all.  

One thing about teaching is: the bad days are really bad, but the good days are REALLY good!

[crazylove]

So ok, today was one of those really baaaaaaad days in the teaching world.

Finals!!!  They are so exhausting.  

Finals again tomorrow and then it's the weekend!  PARTY ON!

(And the kids think it's a bad time for them, I don't think they even realize what all of us go through just hoping, praying and working so they'll pass, so they can graduate!)
Sometimes that is one of my biggest frustrations.  The students think we are there to torture them, when all we really want is to see them be successful.

Knuckleheads.  I still love them, though!  And I still love my profession.  So I guess all the frustration and exhaustion is worth it.

[aMD]

The students think we are there to torture them, when all we really want is to see them be successful.

I deal with that on a smaller level. I could see how that could be really frustrating.  I think my kids know that I'm there to help them and that I want what best for them but I'd imagine on a high school level that the kids don't know who to trust.  they're obviously lucky to have you.

so, i guess you're on trimesters?

[crazylove]

The students think we are there to torture them, when all we really want is to see them be successful.

I deal with that on a smaller level. I could see how that could be really frustrating.  I think my kids know that I'm there to help them and that I want what best for them but I'd imagine on a high school level that the kids don't know who to trust.  they're obviously lucky to have you.

so, i guess you're on trimesters?

No, actually quarters.  So we're lucky enough to get to do this 4 times a year.  And we are on block scheduling.  Which means each class time is an hour and 40 minutes.
Great for teaching, not so great for keeping attention and focus!  But, it gives the student's more options because each semester is like taking the class for a full year.
It is really good for the kids who are at school for all the right reasons.

[aMD]

there's a bug push in our district for schools to move to trimesters. I couldn't decide what I thought of block scheduling when I subbed in high school, but I'm pretty sure I would've hated it as a student.


I had a good teaching day.  I introduced multiplication to my third graders.  At the end of the lesson three comments I heard were "6 times 2 iiiissssss... 12! YAY!!!"  "Multiplication is easy!"  "Multiplication is fun!"  That was nice.

Also, I was suppose to go to an awards ceremony tonight with my principal but had to skip it.   I wrote a grant to get a shakespeare troupe to present the tempest, teach the kids about poetry and shakespeare, and involve the kids in the production.  Last year they did Romeo and Juliet and the kids were enthralled.