Teachers encounter all of these things at some point in their career. So why am I a teacher?
With every challenge comes an opportunity for growth. The field of teaching is abloom with such luscious opportunities.
It was another day of research and a productive one. On lap tops students found articles on their topics, recorded the MLA citation (thank you easybib.com), and took notes. While students were engaged in research, I held one on one conferences about missing work and grades.
Were there moments of disorder? Yes. Were there times things seemed out of my control? Uh.... Yes. Did I want to shift gears and switch to something more predictable and orderly? Oh, Yeah! But what good would that have done? What do we learn by playing it safe as teachers?
As the saying goes, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" -- thank you Mr. Franklin. So what did I gain today.
- I'm continually learning to trust the processes that I put in place. Although students may complain and things feel a bit awkward when doing something for the first time, teachers must allow the processes they set in place to run their full course. Evaluation should come after a system has been tested and tried, not in the middle of the test.
- I'm continually learning that students are human beings with personalities, character traits and a myriad of personal experiences. This sociaization milieu can be the cause of a plethora of different outcomes and responses. Teachers must simply be flexible; working with human beings requires such.
- I'm continually learning that I don't know it all. Students are constantly pointing out things I didn't notice when planning a lesson. I am humbled by their trust in my knowledge and amazed at the depth of their interest in topics.
What an awesome and demanding privilege it is to be a teacher. The possibilities are endless.
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