5 posts tagged “teaching”

how much I truly enjoy teaching.

I had my first sub job today.  It was night and day from the elementary where I taught in Los Angeles.  There were only 17 students in the class, as opposed to the 34 cap for 5th grades in LAUSD.  They knew about history!!  There was an actual PE teacher to teach them and I didn't have to do it!!!  They didn't complain about doing work or ask why they had to learn it!!!  They didn't talk the entire time I was talking!!!  They (mostly) did their work without me having to ride them all the time!!!  They worked INDEPENDENTLY!!!  That was a real trip.  It was so much different.  I even emailed one of my teacher friends in LA to tell her about it.  She said that it was like the Twilight Zone.  I totally agree.

But it really made me realize how much I love teaching.  I didn't think I missed it.  I love sleeping in.  I enjoy having time to do whatever I want.  I miss the sounds, the spending time with the students, the challenge of finding a way to get it across in a different way so that everyone understands.  I miss interacting with other teachers, the lunch room chats.  I miss the copy machines and the work room conversations while you're waiting for the copy machines. 

I really need a job!

I've been checking the website not quite daily, but fairly frequently lately.  I'd had to re-send my undergraduate transcripts to them, and they got them on Monday.  I checked today, and my application had been approved!  What a relief!  That's one less thing I have to worry about. 

But wow, it makes it so much more real.  Two more months now.  Less than, I think.  Only a month of school left, then vacation!  Crazy.  I'm so jealous--my family's already finished, or will be in a couple of days.  Nowhere near as long as me.  It will go by in a heartbeat, I'm sure.

One of my coworkers is also leaving, joining the Peace Corps.  She's having a much harder time of it than I am.  I'm mostly happy.  She's been really sad.  She's not only leaving her job, she's leaving her family as well.  I absolutely adore her, admire her, and will miss her next year.  It's really hard for me to see her unhappy. 

I actually had a pretty good day yesterday.  I didn't stress out about the creative writing class.  We told ghost stories.  I don't personally believe in ghosts, but something I've learned about the Hispanic culture is that they do, and they're absolutely fascinated by it.  They are so quiet when you tell ghost stories.  It's the quietest they've been all year long.  Awesome, and a great finish to the week.

I don't get teenagers at all.  Well, I don't guess that's really true.  I get along pretty well with quite a few of them.  It's the problematic ones that I don't seem to be able to finesse.  If they are unmotivated, I don't know how to reach them.  I don't know how to get them to be respectful toward me.  I was going into a classroom this afternoon, and heard the kids crack up before the door was opened.  When I got in, the teacher was saying that something one of the students said wasn't nice.  I'm sure that they made a rude comment about me.  I really don't care if they don't like me.  I DO care if they're disrespectful.  There's another student who makes sexually-based comments every day, no matter how many times I tell them to stop.  It's so frustrating.  I try to ignore them, but they seem to think that it's okay to keep being disrespectful.  Argh!  I think I'm going to confront the one student who is really a big problem, the sex-obsessed one.  Hopefully, that will help with that type of comments.  Maybe I need to go back to elementary school.  I got along pretty well with that group!  What does that say about me??  LOL. 

We're having awesome thunderstorms today.  There was one crack of thunder that scared me, it was so close!  It makes me think back to my childhood.  I used to drag a chair up to the front door and watch thunderstorms.  In college, my roommates and I slept to CDs of thunderstorms.  I sleep better when it's thunderstorming!  It's been ages since we had a good thunderstorm here.  I'm looking forward to getting back to KY where they're pretty common!

So maybe only teachers find it amusing, but the teachers at my school played a prank on the students today.  It was the best!  I felt a little evil about my glee. 

My high school is going pilot next year.  We told the students this morning that they would have to wear uniforms next year.  The elementary and middle school kids wear them, and I think that a lot of the high schoolers do as well.  I think high school is really where you need it, actually. 

Anyway.  They were supposed to choose between a couple of different styles of uniforms.  They threw a fit.  They wanted to change schools, change academies, claimed that they wouldn't wear it and get sent home every day.  It was funny!  Eventually, right before lunch, the assistant principal came on the intercom and said "I know that you've been waiting eagerly for the results of the tally about the uniforms.  On behalf of the teachers and staff of ALC(the high school), April Fool's Day!"  The kids in my class laughed about it--they'd been totally taken in.  Some other kids said that they didn't believe it, but I think they fell for it, too.

What fun!  It's a little twisted that it makes us happy to mess with teenagers' heads.  : )

I don't know how it happened, but one of my students asked today if I have a MySpace page.  I do, and I'm generally not one to lie.  So now, a few of my students know that I am on MySpace.  After that, one of the students started making up things that I have on my MySpace.  That was kind of funny, actually.  Another student gave me her email address and told me to add her.  I got a little bored tonight, so I looked her up.  I have absolutely no intention of adding her, of course.  I don't have anything that I would be embarrassed about, but who wants their students to know private stuff?? It was interesting to peruse her MySpace page.  LOL.  Yeah, I'm really bored.

On another note, I taught myself some easy embroidery and embroidered three little hearts.  It's cute.  I wanted to do my Awesome Dance.  I love finishing projects.  It makes me happy.  It makes me feel like I rock.  Thus the Awesome Dance.  I did that one quite a few times at Christmas-time when I was making presents for people. 

Hey, if the world won't pat you on the back, you might as well do it yourself, right?  Because we're all awesome in some way.