So here I am, sitting in my (very hot) classroom, drinking a diet sam’s cola and writing a blog entry on teaching. Wow, sad picture, yet I am oddly satisfied. It’s been a few months since I started teaching, and I have to say that I like this job a lot. I have done a lot of different things in my life. I worked for a moving company (albeit for only a day) at the age of maybe 14, I worked for the Portland Sea Dogs in the grill, making sausage and chicken sandwiches, I worked for a paving company for three summers, I worked for Best Buy and Borders, and I worked for a company called Markem for three summers (one as a sort of fix-it sort of guy, and two as an intern in the stockroom and shipping/receiving depts). Finally, I worked for three years in the Residence Life staff at my college, Holy Cross. I was an Ra for two, and a Head Ra for one.
Each of these jobs had interesting aspects. Getting to hang out with a different crowd, and really broadening my horizon (paving). Getting to mock people at a bookstore (borders, and only behind their backs, crazy Vt. people). Getting to listen to the same song over and over and over and over again (Best Buy). Getting to see drunk people do stupid things (RA). But here, I have a total other responsibility. I mean, I try to work hard at whatever I do, but here it means so much. I know that what I am trying to do can make a huge difference in my world. I remember back to when I was in school, and can clearly remember those teachers who greatly impacted who I am to this day. Mrs. Caruso, Mrs. Allen, Mr. Mitch, Mr. Miranda, Ms. Niles, Mrs. Laber, Mrs. Lutjie, Ms. Boody, Ms. Lee-Winship, Mr. Beck, Mr. Dowling, Mr. Smith, Ms. Schmidt, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Wibby, among so many others. I want to be one of those people who is remembered fondly. I want to be one who works so hard and is so successful that my students will write me letters (using the format we have practiced) in ten or twenty years thanking me.
That being said, I know that I have a long way to go. I feel like with Social Studies, I am at least making progress. My students in all three classes are really starting to make gains, and it is such a great feeling! Just seeing the look on someone’s face after they ace a test, or give a correct answer is so outstanding.
In English, however, I am a little more concerned. Right now, I am fighting to keep my students interested. They can generally do the reading, but make a lot of simple mistakes in writing, or will often miss the main point of a story and relate to some small aspect. Also, there is a lot of whining in class that they don’t want to do a certain activity. It just makes it frustrating because I spend so much time trying to plan out these activities, and it stinks that it doesn’t always go over well.
Today, for example, I had to give the M.A.P. predictor test. It is a fairly long English and math test which is supposed to be as close as possible to the MAP test that my students will take in a few months time. By the way, the MAP is the same thing as the MEA or MCAT or anything else out there. Well, I had several students whine that they were tired, that they didn’t want to do it, or that they weren’t going to do it. Eventually one ended up in the office, which is frustrating because he still needs to do his test, but now he loses a whole day of instruction.
Anyway, I guess I just wanted to share some hopes about succeeding and also some fears about not reaching students in certain areas.
Lastly, as a sort of fun note, I got to play in a squash demo this weekend at a local club in KC. It was outstanding in that I probably played the most squash of anyone there, and consequently won all my matches. I also met someone who might want to apply to TFA, and she was an English major, so hopefully there could be a potential guest lecturer/observer in my room someday in the near future.
Thanks for reading!
-MaineiacinKC
