And if you do not teach it, they come anyway.
Salvete,
The kids are coming tomorrow whether we are ready for them or not. I have seen ample Facebook postage over the last couple days -- the heaving of sighs, the failing of courage, the braving of novelty! All from teacher, parent, and student alike. Parents taking their young men and women to college, exhausted moms returning home with school supplies, and the self-reassurance in order to remind...we can do this!
Do this we can. Do this we must.
Have a good first day of the new year.
Magistra
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Salvete,
What a week it has been! And it is only Thursday. Today was just awesome. If you are one of those people who thinks that one's job cannot bring joy, find a different career. You have been lying to yourself.
As I worked in my room today, I noticed kids in the hall. I remembered that they were due to pick up their schedules today so that they could find their way in the new building. So that they knew I was available for help, I propped open my door. Inevitably, a few stopped to say hello. Seeing my former students brought so much joy to my heart. Even one with whom I had issues here and there (a very good student with a chip on his shoulder) came by to see me. The students were generous with the hugs and open with their questions about everything from summer reading to class locations to you-name-it. I really cannot believe I tried to leave and go to graduate school.
The new students I met today also had parents in tow. Meeting parents is always such an interesting experience. Our principal reminds us that parents do not keep their best kids at home. The parents send us the very best they have, even when that "very best" is not so great. The parents all asked good questions and I was pleased as punch to meet them.
One of the really exciting things about working with AVID (besides that the kids are almost guaranteed to be good) is that I get to know who they are before the first day of school. I get to help interview them, hand select them with a group of my peers, and I get to help ensure their success. A weighty charge, ensuring success.
Back to work I go tomorrow to plan until I fall over. I can't believe they pay me to do this!
Valete,
Magistra
What a week it has been! And it is only Thursday. Today was just awesome. If you are one of those people who thinks that one's job cannot bring joy, find a different career. You have been lying to yourself.
As I worked in my room today, I noticed kids in the hall. I remembered that they were due to pick up their schedules today so that they could find their way in the new building. So that they knew I was available for help, I propped open my door. Inevitably, a few stopped to say hello. Seeing my former students brought so much joy to my heart. Even one with whom I had issues here and there (a very good student with a chip on his shoulder) came by to see me. The students were generous with the hugs and open with their questions about everything from summer reading to class locations to you-name-it. I really cannot believe I tried to leave and go to graduate school.
The new students I met today also had parents in tow. Meeting parents is always such an interesting experience. Our principal reminds us that parents do not keep their best kids at home. The parents send us the very best they have, even when that "very best" is not so great. The parents all asked good questions and I was pleased as punch to meet them.
One of the really exciting things about working with AVID (besides that the kids are almost guaranteed to be good) is that I get to know who they are before the first day of school. I get to help interview them, hand select them with a group of my peers, and I get to help ensure their success. A weighty charge, ensuring success.
Back to work I go tomorrow to plan until I fall over. I can't believe they pay me to do this!
Valete,
Magistra
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Here we go again.
Salvete.
School ended. I worked graduation. And now summer is almost over.
Graduation was interesting. I got to wear my regalia for the first time, which made me proud of myself. It felt like my own graduation, in a way. On my original graduation for my Masters of Education, I had to work, so I did not walk (nor did I really want to). This more recent experience of watching those kids walk across the stage was the best graduation ceremony I could have wanted for myself. In a way, it really was my graduation. My first ever group of students graduated from high school. I taught mostly freshmen my first year (in Houston), but I did have some sophomores in my two Latin classes. I keep up with five or six of them on Facebook (gasp!), so I have gotten to see their status updates -- waiting to hear from this or that college, attending senior prom, and experiencing the joy and anxiety that come with a new chapter of life. At my current job, where I have taught sophomores from the beginning, I had repeaters who were junior level age-wise. They too graduated this year.
As I sat with my row (row 13 pink! best row in the place!) and watched those people walk across the stage, I felt genuinely proud to have been a part of their lives. I do not know where their roads will lead them. For some of them, the only thought in my head was, "None of us ever thought this day would come." They were the ones who seemed to feel that their only mission in life was to make us miserable. However, there they went, there they walked. I hope they are ready.
The summer has sped on as I have done my best to slow it down. I have tried to savor every day of freedom, knowing what is coming. I suppose I am ready for the new year. For the past two weeks, my ever-present and ever-vivid dreams have been riddled with nightmares of disobedient students, humongous class sizes, and failed lesson plans. These phantoms have done nothing for my confidence, but I have tried to push them away in the morning light. It will be excellent to see my colleagues on Monday for our staff development, to see my desks neatly placed, to make copies, to walk the halls of a school I have loved for many years -- long before it was my employer.
And even if I am not ready, the children will come anyway. Whether or not you teach, they will come, so you might as well teach your heart out for them.
Believe me, I intend to.
Valete,
Magistra
School ended. I worked graduation. And now summer is almost over.
Graduation was interesting. I got to wear my regalia for the first time, which made me proud of myself. It felt like my own graduation, in a way. On my original graduation for my Masters of Education, I had to work, so I did not walk (nor did I really want to). This more recent experience of watching those kids walk across the stage was the best graduation ceremony I could have wanted for myself. In a way, it really was my graduation. My first ever group of students graduated from high school. I taught mostly freshmen my first year (in Houston), but I did have some sophomores in my two Latin classes. I keep up with five or six of them on Facebook (gasp!), so I have gotten to see their status updates -- waiting to hear from this or that college, attending senior prom, and experiencing the joy and anxiety that come with a new chapter of life. At my current job, where I have taught sophomores from the beginning, I had repeaters who were junior level age-wise. They too graduated this year.
As I sat with my row (row 13 pink! best row in the place!) and watched those people walk across the stage, I felt genuinely proud to have been a part of their lives. I do not know where their roads will lead them. For some of them, the only thought in my head was, "None of us ever thought this day would come." They were the ones who seemed to feel that their only mission in life was to make us miserable. However, there they went, there they walked. I hope they are ready.
The summer has sped on as I have done my best to slow it down. I have tried to savor every day of freedom, knowing what is coming. I suppose I am ready for the new year. For the past two weeks, my ever-present and ever-vivid dreams have been riddled with nightmares of disobedient students, humongous class sizes, and failed lesson plans. These phantoms have done nothing for my confidence, but I have tried to push them away in the morning light. It will be excellent to see my colleagues on Monday for our staff development, to see my desks neatly placed, to make copies, to walk the halls of a school I have loved for many years -- long before it was my employer.
And even if I am not ready, the children will come anyway. Whether or not you teach, they will come, so you might as well teach your heart out for them.
Believe me, I intend to.
Valete,
Magistra
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