the "I feel neeeeeedy" post
GIMME LOVE! PLEASE!
Okay, actually I want love for my profession, since my neediness springs from the angst of starting a new school year. I dislike the meetings we have the week before school starts. They make me hate my job. Plus leading up to the first day of school is stressful. That fear of "will the other kids like me?" never goes away. During my first year of teaching the very-experienced teacher across the hall from me confided that she threw up the first day of school--her whole life, as a student then as a teacher. Once those first few days are over, everything's fine, but starting out... blah.
So what do I want from you, tiny flist or lurkers or random visitors? Please tell me something positive about teaching/teachers/a specific teacher. Some ideas:
tell me about who your favorite teacher is and why
what was the best moment you had that connects to a teacher
your favorite lesson
something you learned from a teacher that you never forgot
Ah, teachers... This is difficult for me. I loved learning but didn't like school much, starting in seventh grade and continuing throughout high school. (I didn't even buy a yearbook my senior year.) I was never going to become a teacher. Then I discovered that I enjoyed teaching and was actually good at it. Oops.
Anyway, it's hard to think of specific moments. I do remember that we moved in the middle of seventh grade (hmmm... possible connection there?!) and I was mopey and depressed. I played "All Out of Love" by Air Supply on my record player over and over again.* Yes, that definitely dates me. Needless to say, math wasn't a priority for woebegone adolescent me. So I didn't do my homework for, um, a few weeks. Then my math teacher and my mother conspired and I was in after-school tutoring for days and days, doing all of the assignments I had skipped, even those that weren't going to be accepted for credit.
Lesson learned? Teachers can be bitches. Accountability is not fun but it can't be deferred. I didn't dislike that teacher after that experience--she really was a nice lady. I definitely didn't skip her homework assignments. My math grades after that year weren't always stellar but I didn't get any more failing grades.**
*I was 'out of love' because when we moved I left behind my bestest friend in the whole wide world... and now I have no idea where she is. Haven't seen her since early college years--she disappeared from the planet
**Until a calculus course in college with a teacher who barely spoke English. My sister, on the other hand, loved Calculus so much that she took three courses of it for fun. If she didn't look almost exactly like me I'd wonder if we came from the same gene pool.
Okay, actually I want love for my profession, since my neediness springs from the angst of starting a new school year. I dislike the meetings we have the week before school starts. They make me hate my job. Plus leading up to the first day of school is stressful. That fear of "will the other kids like me?" never goes away. During my first year of teaching the very-experienced teacher across the hall from me confided that she threw up the first day of school--her whole life, as a student then as a teacher. Once those first few days are over, everything's fine, but starting out... blah.
So what do I want from you, tiny flist or lurkers or random visitors? Please tell me something positive about teaching/teachers/a specific teacher. Some ideas:
tell me about who your favorite teacher is and why
what was the best moment you had that connects to a teacher
your favorite lesson
something you learned from a teacher that you never forgot
Ah, teachers... This is difficult for me. I loved learning but didn't like school much, starting in seventh grade and continuing throughout high school. (I didn't even buy a yearbook my senior year.) I was never going to become a teacher. Then I discovered that I enjoyed teaching and was actually good at it. Oops.
Anyway, it's hard to think of specific moments. I do remember that we moved in the middle of seventh grade (hmmm... possible connection there?!) and I was mopey and depressed. I played "All Out of Love" by Air Supply on my record player over and over again.* Yes, that definitely dates me. Needless to say, math wasn't a priority for woebegone adolescent me. So I didn't do my homework for, um, a few weeks. Then my math teacher and my mother conspired and I was in after-school tutoring for days and days, doing all of the assignments I had skipped, even those that weren't going to be accepted for credit.
Lesson learned? Teachers can be bitches. Accountability is not fun but it can't be deferred. I didn't dislike that teacher after that experience--she really was a nice lady. I definitely didn't skip her homework assignments. My math grades after that year weren't always stellar but I didn't get any more failing grades.**
*I was 'out of love' because when we moved I left behind my bestest friend in the whole wide world... and now I have no idea where she is. Haven't seen her since early college years--she disappeared from the planet
**Until a calculus course in college with a teacher who barely spoke English. My sister, on the other hand, loved Calculus so much that she took three courses of it for fun. If she didn't look almost exactly like me I'd wonder if we came from the same gene pool.