First week of school

The first week of school officially ended on Friday at 3:10pm. It was a crazy week with new students, returning students, and new challenges. I have to say though, I am happy, very happy with the choice I made to stay in the computer lab. At the end of last school year I struggled with whether or not I wanted to be in a "regular" classroom or remain in the lab. After seeing so many familiar faces and how those students grew over the summer the decision to stay was the right one. As a fellow teacher in the fifth grade said to me "I was bummed when we heard you were staying in the lab and not applying for the open fifth grade position but then when I thought about how you would be affecting all the students instead of one group, I thought the school will benefit." I wanted to hug her for her faith in my abilities to affect the students but also for helping me put into words what I had been feeling those first couple days of school. As a "regular classroom teacher you have a group of students that you become familiar with for one year, when that year is over you see them in the hallways but your relationship has faded with the beginning of summer. As a "specials" teacher you get to see those students year after year until they leave the school. You get to watch a student grow from Kindergarten to fifth grade (maybe sixth, depending on the school). Your relationship is a six year adventure, learning who they are, seeing glimpses of who they will become, and watching them grow.
On another note the first week for "specials" teachers in an elementary school is much like one for teachers in the middle school or high school level. Explain and review expectations and rules to each class for several days in a row for each new period until a repeat in the rotation occurs. The first day of school happens several days in a row instead of a one shot deal.  I know there are necessary evils and rules to be reviewed but their has to be another way. This year I had repeat students tell me what the rules were, and what my expectations were. When they touched on something I had altered or the school had altered a little I stepped in and explained the new process but as we know students don't learn as much if we stand in front of them and talk talk talk, they learn more when they are a part of the process. Two goals are met, students are part of the process, talking and sharing the first day(s) of school, and I feel like I am talking with them instead of at them.

    I will be starting my second year in a full time teaching position and I am just as nervous as I was my first year. I could re-write and use the same lesson plans I used last year but how does that benefit my students? Since I am a technology teacher and teach school wide once the students have seen it, well they have seen it. Of course we will be taking on some major review of concepts especially for the littles but with the quickly changing field of technology the older students deserve an introduction to some of the elements they will be seeing in life. Thus I am nervous about the new lesson plans I am working on and whether or not the students can meet the challenges. They surprised me a little last year when they met each challenge I set for them, especially when I knew some of the concepts I was teaching they had never been introduced too and other concepts they were familiar with seemed yet so foreign. The positive side, I taught them last year so I know what they learned, except of course for those transfer students and new kindergartners.
   With the new year I am also going to try and get some of the teachers into the new "extra" lab and train them on some of the great programs they can use with their students.  There are so many neat websites and programs out there that can help students be creative, and learn classroom content. I am hoping that I will not see this wonderful lab sit mostly empty again, for another year. We will see.
   I am going to try and be better about sharing my ideas a long with classroom success and yes failures, with you, fellow teachers. Who knows, maybe we can teach each other something. Happy new school year!

How hard, is it really, to be a teacher?

First thing first, I haven't blogged in awhile. New teaching job, in a new content area, taking on my masters, and life . . .  Anyway, to the point of this blog and the title. I was asked this very question over the weekend by someone very close to me. "How hard, is it really, to be a teacher?" I though about it, and I wasn't sure how to answer. Some people believe that teaching pales in comparison to the traditional high profile positions but after the events of this week and discussing this very question with fellow teachers, here is my answer. Teaching is hard. Teaching is wipe myself up of the floor hard. People have this rose colored vision of a teachers life. Teachers work 8-3, they stand in front of students giving them basic skills, grade a few papers, and get to call it a day. Teachers do not work eight to three. We may have to be on school grounds from eight to three but papers don't grade themselves. Those papers often times go home with the teacher and turn into a several hour project, and no, we aren't getting paid for that time. Students grammar, punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure doesn't just get better by itself. Mathematical equations, computations, and memorization doesn't happen overnight with a voice recorder tucked under the pillow. The ideas of motion, tectonic plates, the atmosphere, and scientific reasoning doesn't seep in through the bite of an apple. Social Studies isn't learned through the observation of a teacher just standing in front of a classroom. Students don't learn how to sing, read, and play music through the radio. Physical Education isn't learned through hanging out in the backyard. 21st century computer skills don't come hardwired into children, no matter how much we think that they do; and I haven't even touched on the arts.
Not to mention the social skills, life skills, and societal moralistic ideals expected to be taught by teachers. So, how hard is it to be a teacher? How hard is it to make an employee work when they don't want to? How hard is it to teach an employee a new skill? How hard is it to get an employee to complete a task when it isn't something that interests them? How hard is it to teach moralistic values to someone? That's right, think about those answers you just mentally came up with and then remember as teachers we can't fire our students, we can't turn our backs on them, we can't dismiss them. We have to continue on, trying with all our might to, wait for it . . . . . . . .teach. If we fire our students, if we stop trying to teach, we are letting our future down. As teachers we are providing a disservice, not only to the student but to the future society. At this point I haven't even touched the fact that teachers have to answer to state standards, and national standards; all being tested and in some states a contingency on teacher pay rate based on said test scores. Or, the fact that teachers have to answer to the parents, the students, other teachers, the principal, the vice principal, and the super independent. Or the fact that a long with the content areas teachers also teach those wonderful life skills I discussed earlier. What students learn in a classroom is so much more than reading, writing, and arithmetic; so much more than science, and social studies. Teachers are responsible for molding students into who they may become. So you are asking yourselves, why then be a teacher? For those wonderful moments when you see the light bulb come on, when there is an aw ha moment, when you see a student connect the dots, when the one kid who couldn't figure it out all year finally gets it, when a student figures out the moral standing, when someone stands up for themselves, when a kindergartner who hasn't showed any emotion all year quietly takes your hand and whispers I love you, seeing all those little faces still wide eyed and full of possibilities. With all those things laying at rest on your shoulders everyday, being responsible for no less than at least 18 lives everyday, making command decisions, in the moment that will affect those lives in both content knowledge and life skills, forever, I ask you: how hard is it to be a teacher?