Don't get me wrong, I totally love my job. In fact, I still have a hard time grasping the concept that I get paid for it. But to be perfectly honest, I am looking forward to next year when I have a year of experience under my belt. I have been flying by the seat of my pants on many occasions and wishing I had put in more preparation for certain things and have been overall unsatisfied with a lot of things I have produced in the classroom so far. Perfectionism has always been a struggle for me and I have always been a tough critic of myself. "The first year is all about survival," they keep telling me. This I have gathered, and I am trying really hard to accept that reality. Some days, after the final bell has rung and I return to my classroom from outside duty, I find myself completely dumbfounded. How did I get to three o'clock in the afternoon?? What classes did I have today?? What the hell did I teach all day?? Did I eat today?? What's my name again...
All I know is that I am exhausted and my feet are killing me.
It is safe to say that there have been zero dull moments in the past few months. The days and months are flying by with no sign of slowing down in the near future (or ever). I fall asleep at 7:30 in front of the TV often. I frequently try to use my house key to get into my classroom in the mornings. I resist the temptation to introduce myself as Ms. Towler to adults outside of school. I cannot read anything without going through modeling and reading strategies in my head as if my students were inside my brain. I kind of feel like my life is a mess right now, but I totally love it. I have never once dreaded going into school, and once the kids walk in the room, I feel pretty content about my life in general.
So with the first quarter under my belt, I'd like to share my favorite teacher moment of the quarter:
Every lesson should have a learning objective to let the students know what they are doing that day. My school is changing gears a bit and calling them "learning intentions." This approach has three parts: what the student will know, why they need to know it, and how they know when they have mastered it. My favorite teacher moment happened right after my class reviewed the warm-up over the previous lesson and addressed the learning intention for our lesson that day about the French and Dutch explorers...
The learner will be able to compare and contrast the different settlement patterns and characteristics of the French and Dutch in the New World...So that I can examine the increase in competition among European nations for power in the New World...I will know that I have mastered this when I create a triple Venn Diagram comparing the Spanish, French, and Dutch explorers.
I shit you not. The student sitting in the desk in front of me literally leaned forward and said, "Ms. Towler...I just got really excited about learning." And he was one hundred percent serious.
Who says that? Seriously, is this real life?
Namaste.
Kins
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