What crazy, interesting, confusing, strange, amazing experiences do I have on a weekly basis? Maybe my students made some off-the-wall comment. Some other time, I might have a story about a wonderful teaching moment. There may be some weeks that I reflect on my strengths/weaknesses as a teacher and others where I need advice. I'm dealing with the experience a day at a time.
Wow! The weeks just cruising by and leaving me in the dust! Never let anyone say teachers have it easy. Teaching is a time consuming and a high-energy job. I get up way before the sun comes up, spend all day on my feet, and am lucky if I take a break to eat dinner. Do I sound like I'm wining? That is surely not my intention. I absolutely love it. I taught with a substitute in the room twice this week and I can remember a commment I made to her that resembled "there is no doubt I am meant to be a teacher. I cannot wait to have my own classroom." I think I write this almost every week in my blog but I'm afraid I'll need proof twenty years down the road when I'm losing my wits and counting down the days until retirement.
Week after week I try to plan lessons that are realistic and meaningful to the students. We are about to start a unit on fractions (after Thanksgiving) so we have to review all the preliminary stuff - GCF, LCM, decimals, percents, all those goodies. I have had to rely heavily on the textbook for resources on these topics since we are sort of time crunched. In order to stay on track, we need to complete 2 chapters each 6-weeks. The 2nd grading period ends November 16th (tomorrow!). I was paranoid that I would put my teacher behind if I strayed too far from the book and really pulled in outside problems. I have decided however, that I am a follower of the application approach. I wish I could teach every topic by relating it to real-life from the start. I have read testimonies and research encouraging this teaching style but all with a similar word of caution - you must be willing to put time from your mind. Some day I'll be able try it! For now, I'll just have to use it sparingly when time allows. There's plenty of time in the future for me to be experimental!
Wow! The weeks just cruising by and leaving me in the dust! Never let anyone say teachers have it easy. Teaching is a time consuming and a high-energy job. I get up way before the sun comes up, spend all day on my feet, and am lucky if I take a break to eat dinner. Do I sound like I'm wining? That is surely not my intention. I absolutely love it. I taught with a substitute in the room twice this week and I can remember a commment I made to her that resembled "there is no doubt I am meant to be a teacher. I cannot wait to have my own classroom." I think I write this almost every week in my blog but I'm afraid I'll need proof twenty years down the road when I'm losing my wits and counting down the days until retirement.
ReplyDeleteWeek after week I try to plan lessons that are realistic and meaningful to the students. We are about to start a unit on fractions (after Thanksgiving) so we have to review all the preliminary stuff - GCF, LCM, decimals, percents, all those goodies. I have had to rely heavily on the textbook for resources on these topics since we are sort of time crunched. In order to stay on track, we need to complete 2 chapters each 6-weeks. The 2nd grading period ends November 16th (tomorrow!). I was paranoid that I would put my teacher behind if I strayed too far from the book and really pulled in outside problems. I have decided however, that I am a follower of the application approach. I wish I could teach every topic by relating it to real-life from the start. I have read testimonies and research encouraging this teaching style but all with a similar word of caution - you must be willing to put time from your mind. Some day I'll be able try it! For now, I'll just have to use it sparingly when time allows. There's plenty of time in the future for me to be experimental!