I survived my first year of teaching school. It has been a hard yet rewarding experience. I learned a lot about teaching, about students, and about myself.
I learned how to design assignments that take less time to grade but that more fully measure the objective I want the students to grasp.
I learned that I have to find ways to keep my system balanced. I have to make time on the weekends for other alters to have time on the outside.
I learned that while I can manage my classroom well, I struggle if I am in the halls during passing time, and being in a dance with over 1,000 students is beyond my limits – there is simply too much information for my system to handle with that many students.
I learned that the copy room is usually really busy the first thing Monday morning, but if I get there early enough, I can still get my copies made before the bell rings.
I learned that IEP meetings and questionnaires take a lot of time, but they help me understand my students better.
I learned that my system can handle teaching. I am thankful for a system that works well together. I am thankful we have become more and more co-conscious as time goes by.
One of our teachers had a melt-down this year – in front of a class full of students. The teacher was fired because of this mental break. It makes me sad that the medical community has not yet learned enough about the human brain to understand the mechanism behind mental illnesses and conditions. Someday I hope the brain will be better understood so that instead of being fired, people with mental illnesses can be treated and get well in a world that doesn’t brand them as crazy. I understand why this teacher was let go. I understand that this teacher could not be trusted in a room of students again. I wouldn’t want my child to be in a room with this teacher in his/her state of mind, but it still makes me sad because I know that there but for the grace of God go I. I am thankful for a system that functions well. They do their job so that I always appear “normal”. It is too bad this teacher didn’t have alters – sometimes I feel like it is a super power.
Story Time – Part Two
7 years ago
5 comments:
Yay for you!! This is such an awesome and amazing accomplishment! Thanks for sharing it :)
*Bee
I knew you could do it - should I have let you in on the secret?
Seriously though, Congratulations , with a capital C.
One thing I really like is your attitude, "Sometimes I feel like a super power'. From what I've read, sometimes you ARE a super power.
Thank you Martha and Bee.
These are such amazing accomplishments. I am so happy to have read this and incredibly happy for you to have experienced these things. I am just overjoyed at all of your successes. xoxo
Congratulations! For some reason, I had thought you had given up your blog. I think I had a time when blogger had eaten all my links - maybe when I updated the look of my blog? And I had trouble finding all the blogs I used to read. But congratulations on finishing that first year! That's a great accomplishment!
As for the other teacher, there but for the grace of God go ALL of us, every person. It will be a great day when mental illness is treated with the same respect, seriousness, and dignity that physical illness is treated. :-( :-( :-(
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