How I learned to appreciate the little things in life . . .
. . . and start truly loving the job
a retrospective by Emily Davidson
My original personal goal statement
For my enitre life I have wanted nothing more than to be a teacher, and to help children learn more about the world around them. My dreams of what teaching would be, and what it truly was, weren't entirely compatable. I grew up going to a wonderful school district, but my experiences during my MSU undergraduate College of Education program had me working in downtown Lansing schools where the school districts are sorely below par. This brought my dreams into reality where I needed to learn that there was more to teaching than sugar and spice, but there were realities of working with students that needed to be addressed. It then became important to me to make sure that I learned the finer details of teaching all students effectively, even those who attend lower income school districts. Now that I am a full time teacher it is important for me to continue my education, and find the best methods to teach all of my students effectively. Not every student learns the same way, and in a school district that prides itself on being a nationally acclaimed school, there are still students that are being lost in the shuffle. It is important for me to learn the best methods to make sure that these students are still able to succeed without losing the more advanced students in the process. So I am going to pursue a master's degree in order to make sure that my level of teaching is always the most advanced that it can be in order to ensure that the students are leaving my classroom with the best education possible.
Reflections on my goals and experiences
In college they told us that we were going to be the best prepared for the teaching world because we were leaving from MSU. We had worked in many internship experiences controlling specific aspects of the classrooms we were in and so we felt ready to head into the scary world of teaching. I counted myself as one of the lucky ones to get offered a job in Troy, MI right out of my internship year but I wasn't prepared for all of the little things that I was going to encounter. As I stated in my goal statement I thought that I was going to go into teaching and change the world. I was going to reach every one of my students and I was going to make sure that no student felt that they were "lost in the shuffle". All of my students were going to think I was their favorite teacher and their parents were going to say that they were so happy their student had the opportunity to have me as a teacher.
In reality however, it seemed like I was doing so much less teaching then really dealing with all of the little issues that comes with teaching. When I was not lesson planning I was dreaming about future lesson plans. My brain never seemed to shut off about what I could do in the classroom. I was in a fight with myself about the best way to use my time in the classroom day in and day out: Do I do warm-up questions? When do I take attendance? What is the best method of going over/checking in homework? Do I answer parent emails right away or is it ok to wait a couple of hours? How long should I worry about it when a lesson plan doesn't go as originally planned? How do I make sure that I am accomodating all of my students properly even when I really don't know what some of them are capable of at the beginning of the year? How do I complete all of the paperwork and meetings while still keeping up great teaching efforts?
My first year teaching was a tired blur where I had many "firsts" in teaching. I had my first full load of classes that I was teaching all by myself (no mentor to save me), my first time teaching full year math courses (my minor), my first bad experiences with parents, and my first time having a student tell me that they were so happy they had me for their first math class in high school. I learned that there are no breaks in the world of teaching and that if you don't make use of your professional resources to decompress from your job you might go insane. The people you work with can make your day so much brighter because they truly understand the world of teaching whereas those who are not teachers just don't understand the stress you are in day in and day out. Feeling a glow of pride when a student finally understands the material and is able to help other students to understand.
Now it is two years later and the lessons I have learned have helped to bolster my self-esteem and have given me a mini mental handbook of how to handle different situations. I have taught different subjects every year and I am in 6 different classrooms this year only adding new items to my how-to book I keep in my mind. Alas what of the goal I had in wanting to be able to reach all of my students (the top, the bottom, and the middle) effectively? I was hoping to find in my masters program methods by which to reach all of the students in my classroom. I was in a school system that put so much into its best of the best students that I felt I was losing track of my lower students. I was teaching a low level class each year and those students needed help. The course that provided the best help for my goal was one on educating students with challenging behavior. The students in my low level courses were not getting the proper education necessary because we were always dealing with management issues along with a lack of interest in what was being learned. This course gave me the tools necessary to reach the different students and make the education important to them. Through the use of a case study following one student I was able to find effective methods by which to reach even the toughest of students in order to make them want to learn. These tactics were not just good for a low level course but for regular level courses as well. Many of the other courses throughout the course of the masters was how to make use of technology to improve understanding and motivation in the classroom I am continually amazed at the level of ability that students have with technology and how much they love the opportunity to use technology to learn. I have learned new technologies from my students, and I have tried to share as many of my technologies with others. From what I have learned in my masters courses I hope to move forward and share my findings with others. My goals will continuously change as I move forward in my career experiencing new ups and downs. I am excited for all of the experiences I have yet to have in my teaching career.
In reality however, it seemed like I was doing so much less teaching then really dealing with all of the little issues that comes with teaching. When I was not lesson planning I was dreaming about future lesson plans. My brain never seemed to shut off about what I could do in the classroom. I was in a fight with myself about the best way to use my time in the classroom day in and day out: Do I do warm-up questions? When do I take attendance? What is the best method of going over/checking in homework? Do I answer parent emails right away or is it ok to wait a couple of hours? How long should I worry about it when a lesson plan doesn't go as originally planned? How do I make sure that I am accomodating all of my students properly even when I really don't know what some of them are capable of at the beginning of the year? How do I complete all of the paperwork and meetings while still keeping up great teaching efforts?
My first year teaching was a tired blur where I had many "firsts" in teaching. I had my first full load of classes that I was teaching all by myself (no mentor to save me), my first time teaching full year math courses (my minor), my first bad experiences with parents, and my first time having a student tell me that they were so happy they had me for their first math class in high school. I learned that there are no breaks in the world of teaching and that if you don't make use of your professional resources to decompress from your job you might go insane. The people you work with can make your day so much brighter because they truly understand the world of teaching whereas those who are not teachers just don't understand the stress you are in day in and day out. Feeling a glow of pride when a student finally understands the material and is able to help other students to understand.
Now it is two years later and the lessons I have learned have helped to bolster my self-esteem and have given me a mini mental handbook of how to handle different situations. I have taught different subjects every year and I am in 6 different classrooms this year only adding new items to my how-to book I keep in my mind. Alas what of the goal I had in wanting to be able to reach all of my students (the top, the bottom, and the middle) effectively? I was hoping to find in my masters program methods by which to reach all of the students in my classroom. I was in a school system that put so much into its best of the best students that I felt I was losing track of my lower students. I was teaching a low level class each year and those students needed help. The course that provided the best help for my goal was one on educating students with challenging behavior. The students in my low level courses were not getting the proper education necessary because we were always dealing with management issues along with a lack of interest in what was being learned. This course gave me the tools necessary to reach the different students and make the education important to them. Through the use of a case study following one student I was able to find effective methods by which to reach even the toughest of students in order to make them want to learn. These tactics were not just good for a low level course but for regular level courses as well. Many of the other courses throughout the course of the masters was how to make use of technology to improve understanding and motivation in the classroom I am continually amazed at the level of ability that students have with technology and how much they love the opportunity to use technology to learn. I have learned new technologies from my students, and I have tried to share as many of my technologies with others. From what I have learned in my masters courses I hope to move forward and share my findings with others. My goals will continuously change as I move forward in my career experiencing new ups and downs. I am excited for all of the experiences I have yet to have in my teaching career.