Ten Thoughts on Teaching in the Delta
1. First year teachers tend to focus on what they don't have when it comes to classroom materials.
2. First year teachers have more materials than they realize; it's just a matter of knowing the right person. To get an overhead projector, I had to go to the superintendent. The principal, librarian, and other teachers could do nothing to help.
3. All teacher corps member have their own challenges based on their own circumstances.
4. It is impossible to compare one teacher's situation to another's: in one situation a teacher might thrive, whereas the same teacher might struggle in a different situation.
5. Free time is a teacher's best friend.
6. There isn't much free time, so you must prioritize. I never sacrifice sleep: I pull at least 7.5 a night, and usually 8 hours. I can go without running and reading, but not without sleeping.
7. Students will do some things simply to test you: last week, I had one student call me "Mr. A-bitch" and another call me "Mr. Gay-bear." Neither of these were said in anger: they were simply trying to see my reaction (sidenote: students were punished and I haven't heard these nicknames again).
8. Could I teach in the Delta for 30 years? No way. The negativity of the hallways, with students hitting each other and cursing each other out, is more than I could handle.
9. Corporal punishment would seem to fit right in at my high school. I cannot imagine my school environment becoming any more violent than it already is. Students understand physical abuse more than they understand more mature forms of consequence.
10. Although we don't practice corporal punishment at my school (to my knowledge), and my school is a violent, swarming mass of aggressive students, I am glad I do not have to worry about my students getting paddled. But I have to admit, there are some students I wouldn't mind taking a paddle to myself.
2. First year teachers have more materials than they realize; it's just a matter of knowing the right person. To get an overhead projector, I had to go to the superintendent. The principal, librarian, and other teachers could do nothing to help.
3. All teacher corps member have their own challenges based on their own circumstances.
4. It is impossible to compare one teacher's situation to another's: in one situation a teacher might thrive, whereas the same teacher might struggle in a different situation.
5. Free time is a teacher's best friend.
6. There isn't much free time, so you must prioritize. I never sacrifice sleep: I pull at least 7.5 a night, and usually 8 hours. I can go without running and reading, but not without sleeping.
7. Students will do some things simply to test you: last week, I had one student call me "Mr. A-bitch" and another call me "Mr. Gay-bear." Neither of these were said in anger: they were simply trying to see my reaction (sidenote: students were punished and I haven't heard these nicknames again).
8. Could I teach in the Delta for 30 years? No way. The negativity of the hallways, with students hitting each other and cursing each other out, is more than I could handle.
9. Corporal punishment would seem to fit right in at my high school. I cannot imagine my school environment becoming any more violent than it already is. Students understand physical abuse more than they understand more mature forms of consequence.
10. Although we don't practice corporal punishment at my school (to my knowledge), and my school is a violent, swarming mass of aggressive students, I am glad I do not have to worry about my students getting paddled. But I have to admit, there are some students I wouldn't mind taking a paddle to myself.
posted by Joel Hebert at 4:54 PM
1 Comments:
I know what you mean about all the violence. I had a fight break out in my classroom the other day, and while I know that all high schoolers are fairly fascinated by the idea of hitting each other, the absolute worst, scariest, most affecting moment of my teaching career was the highlight of the other twenty-four students' day. I think it's indicative of a bigger economic problem, but that's neither here nor there. It's hard to care so, so much about the kids, see how inverted so many of their priorities are, and still feel too late to do enough to help them. That's one of the things I like about teaching, though: constant feelings of inadequacy, balanced by fleeting successes.
np: mia, "pull up the people"
Post a Comment
<< Home