Wow! Where does time go? It was about a year ago that things were starting to wind down to our baby girl being born. Hard to believe that that whole experience has been almost a year ago now. More on that at a later time!
It has been fun the last couple of weeks to eat out a bit more than we normally would. Not that we can really afford to eat out (I mean, who can), but it is fun to be out with the kids. I mean look at these two crazy little boys. How can you NOT love them.
The last couple weeks have been a real challenge for me. I am not sure if it is my personality or the hormones of 11-12 year-olds, but our classroom has felt a little off. I am currently working to adjust some of the weekly assignments and have stopped doing other things that were extremely time consuming and not effective (such as a parent newsletter. After 12 years of making a monthly newsletter, I have decided to stop making them. It will free up a lot of time for me to do other things, especially with my kids at home, and I didn't feel it was being utilized by parents and students). I have also adjusted out weekly word work to try and tie in more grammar based skills- like part of speech, dictionary skills, antonyms and synonyms. I hope to start looking more at root, prefixes and suffixes.Our monthly theme for our Values Board is this one:
I am excited. I am going to have the students write a statement about their dream- what they want to be/hope to accomplish, and then have them illustrate it in any manner they choose- draw, cut out pictures, clip art, etc. I am hoping to get a large variety of designs. I think the students have enjoyed doing these each month.
But, like everything else, it get routine and then the kids view it as "boring". I am sick to death of dealing with the words "bored" or "This is boring" or I am bored". Maybe it is because I put a lot of work into my teaching, but to hear a student say that is truly a slap in the face. If only he/she remotely knew the amount of time and thought and effort that went into a day's worth of lessons- and that goes for ANY teacher, even if they are a simply turn the page kind of teacher (which I am TOTALLY not!), they wouldn't be so eager to choose to be 'bored". I realize that somethings are just not as exciting to learn. However, attitude is 99% of the battle.
Enough of the rant. And, enough of this posting.
Later...
You are doing a great job with your students. I know that it may not seem like it now, but your efforts are planting seeds that will help them in the future. You really don't know where your influence ends. Whether you see the fruition of all your efforts or not, you are making a vital difference in the lives of those you teach.
ReplyDeleteHang in there... and follow Kermit's advice - Live your dreams. :-)
I feel privileged to have you as both a colleague and even more as a friend.
Make a poster and hang it right in front that says "Only boring people get bored!"
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean though. I hate it when I work my tail off for something I think they will really like and some don't and are vocal about it. Ugh!!! and Grrrr!!!
Parent newsletter, eh? Now there’s a nifty idea, Mr. H. And for twelve years you slaved over it, much like the editor of a daily newspaper does, before sending his prized manuscript to the printing press. I’m so sorry to hear you had to let it go.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of attitude and learning new things..... You’re right. Attitude is half the battle to learning anything new. But no matter how hard I tried, math will never be a subject for which I’ll have a positive attitude for.
I know what you mean about spending a lot of time on your school stuff to make it all worthwhile...
ReplyDelete