Hey you.
I miss your blog. It was awesome and wise and made me feel happy inside. So, this is your I-think-you-should-write-more-posts-because-you-rock-at-it-but-you-are-forbidden-from-feeling-guilty-about-not-writing-because-I-know-you-have-been-doing-amazing-fantabulous-things-for-your-students-instead-and-that-is-nothing-to-feel-guilty-about request to stick with it. :)
I miss your blog. It was awesome and wise and made me feel happy inside. So, this is your I-think-you-should-write-more-
That was from my dear friend and educational supporter, Tori (or Torini, as I prefer to call her).
So, hear I am writing again. It has been a long, tough two months, I'm not going to lie. I have cried on many rides home from school; I have yet to cry AT school however.
I am struggling the most with motivating my students. I am finding that the second thing I am struggling with is lack of effort on the students' part.
Way back when I was in college (HA!) I had a very wise and special professor change my entire educational philosophy when she uttered the phrase, "Never do for children what they can do for themselves." I fully believe and stand by that statement now. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tolerate when certain "powers that be" hand down mandates and schedules and paperwork that prevent me from teaching the real life lessons behind the students' forgetting their homework and NOT being allowed to make it up, or NOT being allowed to go disturb another teacher's classroom and dig around in the bottom of their locker only to realize they left it at home.
The students fail to realize that their success starts with their effort. I cannot GIVE grades to students, they must earn them. It is utterly exhausting hearing excuse after excuse.
On the other hand, there is one student who never ceases to amaze me (many of the students amaze me every day, but for this purpose, I'll focus on one). I've started keeping a tally of all the ways I love her and all the things she does naturally that put her above and beyond any expectations my co-teacher and I could ever set for her. She always has a smile on her face and wise word to say. She is fearless and is always eager to participate or run any errand. She is mature beyond her years and the kind of girl I see being very popular with the fellows very soon, once they realize what she's worth. Not like she needs that kind of attention anyway. She oozes positivity and restores our sanity right when it's needed. She struggles academically sometimes, but never accepts less than her best.
Yesterday was a crazy day. The students were all wound up about something and to make it even better, we had a vocabulary quiz in class that many of them openly expressed they didn't study for and didn't care either. Frustrating. The night before we had assigned a simple homework task: Explain "how-to writing" in your own words and give one example. Since yesterday was so crazy, I didn't get a chance to explain the homework or even make sure that every one knew to do it. However, it WAS written on the homework board where their homework is posted every day. I halfway forgot about this morning when I walked into the classroom and had it ready to discuss for the mini-lesson instead. Our special girl walked in and handed me two pages answering the questions that were posted. I just smiled, said thank you, handed the pages to my co-teacher and simply said, "Reason number 347."
I guess what I need to do is start recognizing "reasons I love..." for each student, regardless of how frustrating they are. However, I also need to realize that I'm not going to win over every student and some students need far more attention than I am able to give them in one 55 minute class period a day. Thus is the unique plight of a seventh grade teacher. Sigh.
