beaming
i. love. my. school. district. i just needed to write that down so that i'll have it for later when i'm frustrated with something in the system. but right now, i am LOVING my days and my job. i'm so excited about teaching again that today i almost cried when i drove past an elementary and saw a mother walking her kindergartener to registration. he was looking at the school with such inquiry and excitement and, as corny as it sounds, it filled my heart with joy.
the past two days i've attended meaningful, practical and informative training. the new teacher academy has consisted of fabulous presenters and helpful information - two things that were missing in my previous district's professional development program. i've collected some really neat tools that may seem small but that will vastly improve the efficiency of my daily classroom routine. for example, last year i was horrible at dealing with make-up work. i had no system to keep track of what child owed me which assignment on what date. when you have 130 kids, it's a tough thing to manage. now, thanks to training, i'll have a "homework" box on my desk with a stack of notecards next to it. when a student misses class, they'll fill out a card and drop it in the box. the card will tell me what day they missed, what day they returned to my class and then i'll be able to fill out which assignments they owe and when they are due. a simple system that holds children accountable for their learning and makes my life easier at the same time! i'm hoping that through all of these new resources i'll have a new-found sense of organization in the classroom and that will somehow spill over into my personal life.
however, what i love most is the underlying philosophy of the district. everything we do is based on the assumption that achievement is effort-based instead of ability-based. to simplify it - achievement occurs because you worked hard and had the right tools, not because you were just smart or innately good at a task. too many children enter the classroom with the belief that if they have to work at something, it means they aren't as smart as other children or that they're dumb. those same children frequently choose looking lazy over looking dumb and refuse to put forth effort. saying that you failed because you didn't try is much more palatable than trying hard and failing. we've spoiled children by telling them that they are each brilliant and talented and perfect just the way they are. what we NEED to be saying to kids is that you have to really work at mastering anything and that sometimes in that process you're going to fail. we've failed to teach our kids how to deal with failure and in turn they're so frightened of the idea that they choose not to even take the chance. it's silly and it's a pattern that i, and hundreds of other teachers, am trying to break.
the biggest thing i've realized in the last few days is just how busy my life will be and how hard i will work this year. i have a lot of big plans for my classroom that will require me to be organized, accountable and uber-dedicated. tonight at mass, father joe asked us when the last time was that we made a sacrifice in order to help someone else. i can't really answer that question as of now, but get back to me in a month and hopefully i'll be able to say i've done it daily with my kiddos.
the past two days i've attended meaningful, practical and informative training. the new teacher academy has consisted of fabulous presenters and helpful information - two things that were missing in my previous district's professional development program. i've collected some really neat tools that may seem small but that will vastly improve the efficiency of my daily classroom routine. for example, last year i was horrible at dealing with make-up work. i had no system to keep track of what child owed me which assignment on what date. when you have 130 kids, it's a tough thing to manage. now, thanks to training, i'll have a "homework" box on my desk with a stack of notecards next to it. when a student misses class, they'll fill out a card and drop it in the box. the card will tell me what day they missed, what day they returned to my class and then i'll be able to fill out which assignments they owe and when they are due. a simple system that holds children accountable for their learning and makes my life easier at the same time! i'm hoping that through all of these new resources i'll have a new-found sense of organization in the classroom and that will somehow spill over into my personal life.
however, what i love most is the underlying philosophy of the district. everything we do is based on the assumption that achievement is effort-based instead of ability-based. to simplify it - achievement occurs because you worked hard and had the right tools, not because you were just smart or innately good at a task. too many children enter the classroom with the belief that if they have to work at something, it means they aren't as smart as other children or that they're dumb. those same children frequently choose looking lazy over looking dumb and refuse to put forth effort. saying that you failed because you didn't try is much more palatable than trying hard and failing. we've spoiled children by telling them that they are each brilliant and talented and perfect just the way they are. what we NEED to be saying to kids is that you have to really work at mastering anything and that sometimes in that process you're going to fail. we've failed to teach our kids how to deal with failure and in turn they're so frightened of the idea that they choose not to even take the chance. it's silly and it's a pattern that i, and hundreds of other teachers, am trying to break.
the biggest thing i've realized in the last few days is just how busy my life will be and how hard i will work this year. i have a lot of big plans for my classroom that will require me to be organized, accountable and uber-dedicated. tonight at mass, father joe asked us when the last time was that we made a sacrifice in order to help someone else. i can't really answer that question as of now, but get back to me in a month and hopefully i'll be able to say i've done it daily with my kiddos.
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