Great Teachers are Superheroes

Well hello again.
It has been a while since I posted something here. My goal was to update you once a month.

Reflections

Teachers are asked to do the impossible (to do many different things and meet many different guidelines and formats all at once, to teach for each individual when they have 25-40 students, half or more of whom do not want to learn), and are asked to do many things from many different sources. They are under pressure, constantly, daily, to do this. They have deadlines which are last minute and make little sense given all the other work they have. They are paper pushers who if they want to teach well know how to think on many different levels. Teachers who are amazing and last any great length of time either do not do everything, figure out a different way, are superheroes or A+ personalities, or use a combination of these. And, every teacher has different requirements to meet, so some have huge challenges while others have different ones.

Teachers in many situations are also a combination of parent and police. Which to be when and how to lead these maturing children (9th and 10th grade) to being young adults, without being mean but still being firm and using discipline that reflects the real world, is currently my biggest challenge [other than paperwork and lesson planning :) ]. How regular teachers do it well or create an environment where the students want to learn so that 'controlling' them is no longer so much of an issue, is something I have not seen in action. Those who do that must, again, be superheroes. 

Hope, AR, has a combination of people so diverse that it is difficult to teach all the different student knowledge levels, backgrounds, and interaction styles in one room. Some of my classes have a group of kids who like to use 'hood' talk, while others like to dress in cowboy boots and jeans, and some are somewhere in the middle and have their own style more suburban than anything. Students have all types of personal situations and/or living situations. I do not know how to connect with all these differences. A teacher who does that... either has a lot of experience, knows where to find the information, knows or has learned from someone great, or is great themselves. 

My life

I have been doing a lot of paperwork and grading; progress reports came out Friday. Not all the grades were on there, but my goal for the weekend is to be caught up. I have been getting very little sleep as a result of grading and planning. 

I am taking care of a puppy which is 10weeks old now for the last 2 weeks as my own, but I am trying to find him another home. He has to be alone all day, and I just got my first paycheck and do not have much money. 

I am realizing that I am tired of and do not know how to get the kids in my classes to want to stop playing and start learning something. They have computers now, which is the format which they are supposed to have, but they do not respect each other or follow directions which even the assistant superintendent gives them. This last week he had to whistle and yell to get their attention; he is a usually medium-spoken Army Guard family man who is very practical when dealing with people and creative when it comes to education. If they do not listen to him when he tries other methods first, how are they going to listen to me and my fellow young teachers? 

I have been reflecting that this is probably not what I want to be doing in four years. Not if it goes like this year, where some days I feel like I have to figure out how to get the kids to listen all day long. It is an exercise in psychology that I have not yet found out how to win... how to get them to want to listen, to realize it matters, and to choose to participate for one reason or another.

 How long I will stay is a good question. I want to give it a shot, because I know the first year is always tough, and because we teach NewTech style it may be tougher (since we were taught 3 months of non-NewTech). I do not know for sure what my next step should be. However, I like how I feel like I have a purpose and a plan here. Sometimes I struggle with feeling like I matter here, since I came to make a difference. But I think I have a spot that I fill so that helps me feel like I am contributing to society. I think, though, I would like to explore a medical profession, the Peace Corps, something that lets me be outside or use my kind side without always having to tell someone to behave if they don't want to, or something else in the future.

Conclusions for now...

I do not know what the future holds, but that is ok :) 

Also.. I have lots of grading to do! So, I better skedaddle. :) Until next time! :) 

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If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. :)