A Reader!

So I have just set up Google Reader on my computer and have been subscribing like crazy to other educational blogs out there. Reading the words of teachers across the states made me want to write a little on my humble blog. as I checked my blog to begin a post I discovered that someone has been reading. A reply was submitted by someone other than my parents, classmates, or my teaching TA! I can't help but feel excited that my words are not in vain. As therapeutic as blogging can be there is some added excitement knowing that someone else is reading!

Thanks Jeff, for the reply and good luck to your wife as she wait to get a job in the district. CPS is a great district to work for, it's terrible that we're in such a financial crisis. Judgment day will soon be here!

Yeah for Google Reader and yeah for subscribers!

The Agony of Waiting...

It's spring break. I should be sipping a strawberry daiquiri on the beach while reading some delicious novel I've been putting off all school year. I am not. I am sitting in my apartment in Columbia, Missouri. I am waiting to hear back from CPS today about whether or not my position will be absorbed in this tax levy venture the district is currently involved in. April 8th a vote will go down that pretty much decides my fate. I went to the MOEJO job fair last Tuesday and interviewed with several schools. So far, Centralia has offered me a sixth grade language arts position. Columbia Independent school is interested and just has to have me teach a lesson with their students before they can officially offer. My principal has been great and is checking with administration about the status of Language Arts teachers to find out if he can extend a contract to me. (This would be my first choice)

Today, I have to call Centralia and tell them yes or no. It depends on many factors and I hate all the uncertainty surrounding next year. I've never had to play this waiting game before where you say yes or no without fully knowing all your options. I don't like it one bit. The good thing is that by the end of today, I should know a little bit more about my future professional endeavors. For now, I wait.

Sweet things...

I am feeling the need to be reminded of the successes of this profession. Grade cards come out tomorrow, parents are upset about student performance and I think some blame me for their child's failing grade. How do you fail sixth grade reading? You don't try. There it is, plain and simple. By sixth grade, if you don't play the school game, you will fail. No more satisfactory or unsatisfactory, long gone is the day of the smiley face report cards. This is the first slap in the face for some parents that their child might not be as bright as they'd always thought.

So, as a teacher, in her first year, who struggles with taking every failing student personally, I feel the need to remind myself about the sweet things of this job- and there are lots.

1. Students who make you genuinely laugh
2. The fact that my entire team of students are e-mail users and familiar with Blackboard online
3. We ALL know what a protagonist is
4. The cards and crap you get on the holidays with sweet little hand drawn pictures and messages like: "Your the bestest!"
5. Feeling excited about trying a new thing in the classroom
6. Hearing quiet when you ask for it
7. All the hilarious school wide assemblies that you wish someone outside of your school life could witness so they could beleive
8. The ac lab conversations with kids about their lives and the things that matter to them
9. The excitment and generosity of kids during this penny war
10. Hearing a kid say, "I'm sorry." and mean it
11. Showing a student something new and having them thank you
12. Creating routines and designing your curriculum- I do really like this part!
13. The Kionas of the world
14. Student e-mails about nothing in particular
15. Finding out they WERE listening


The list could go on. Why not focus on those moments? Why not come home at the end of a day and remind myself of those funny, heartwarming, or important moments in my classroom. I don't want to dwell on the parent e-mails, the list of tihngs to do, or the student failures.

I must remember, I can only do what I can do. I cannot take each student as my own personal responsibility and make them care about things that matter. I have to remember they're 12, life goes on, and perhaps in the wisdom of their later years, they will begin to "get it."

"Gonna get something started"

Well, I just started my new book clubs. I love book clubs because it combines my favorite things: books and talking. My students are all reading some book that has to do with social injustice. We're learning about the Holocaust, Civil Rights, South African Apartheid, Arabs and Kurds, and Japanese Internment. I have to admit that it's a stretch for me since I am not a social studies expert but I learn as I go and have no choice but to challenge kids to look into finding answers to their own questions since I usually do not have them myself.

I'm already amazed at what they do know and what they don't know. Some of them have heard of the crisis in Darfur but they have little understanding or knowledge. Many of them are familiar withe the holocaust but some were shocked to hear that Nazis actually killed the Jews they imprisoned.

Next Wednesday and Thursday we'll be in the computer lab doing some initial research. I created a makeshift web quest for them to use when researching their conflict in history. I realize that some background is crucial if they are to understand the heavy implications of these periods in time where people hated people so much they would discriminate, torture, or even kill them.

I'm planning on using the discussion board for book discussions of the group novels. I feel like I am throwing a lot at them at once but I want them to engage in conversations outside book club meetings and my research does revolve around that online community I am trying to foster.

Oh, and on a side note, my resiliency has been renewed. We read an article for Mental Health Issues about teacher resiliency in urban public schools. The article outlines some characteristics of the resilient teacher. The list inspired me to quit the negative talk, the frustration towards kids, and I've decided to shut up and take action when I don't like the way things are going. The blame game is so easy in education and teachers like to play the victim. Being the victim doesn't help that struggling reader comprehend, being the victim doesn't change the superintendent's stance on policy in your district, being the victim doesn't accomplish much. I will not play the role of victim. This little teacher is gonna act!