A little detour

I have decided to take a small break from the reminiscing about the early years and take a moment to reflect on the year that just ended. To all my fellow teachers, we have completed the first decade of the 21st century. CRAZY!! right. What happened to yesterday when we were worried about Y2K. It is unbelievable to me that ten years have gone by already. I feel like I must have slept through some of them. However, I am very glad to report that I did not, (although at times, during the bad part I wish I had).
As I was ending my school year, which at the time felt like it could not be over soon enough, BAM, time ran out and I was left wondering what happened. I had intended to wind up the year by having all my materials organized, my room clean, my finals graded and my grades in so that I could walk out of the building and not have to go back until August. Then, life happened once again. One of my teachers became very ill and I ended up giving several of her finals. All the time I thought I had to clean, pack, organize, etc. went out the window. Now I find myself having to go back in for a few hours to do what I needed to have done already. I wanted to do it on Saturday after proctoring the ACT but the 180 degree humidity kept me from staying. Now I have to rush to get everything done in a matter of a couple of hours because like a crazy person, I planned a trip right away. Don't get me wrong I am looking forward to the trip and time with my daughter but I thought I'd be able to take my time to get things done. Time is not my friend right now, nor is the weather for that matter. So much to do and so little time. BUT I do digress, since this has nothing to so with the school year that just ended.
Why is it that some years the students are so great you hate to see them go and then other years you cannot wait until they go. For me this year was the year I hated to see them go. It was great with a great bunch of students. I truly enjoyed it. Maybe because they helped me get through a very stressful year. They didn't complain about the work, they didn't have an attitude, they were just very pleasant and kind to each other. I was very impressed with the students that I had. I am thankful that I had the time with them that I did. For those that graduated, I hope they do well, and for those that I will have next year I hope that they are half as great as the students I had this year. It is students like them that make me glad I am a teacher.

The Continuation

Wow, so first off, I need to proof read better. That being said, I will move on. What I failed to mention in my last post is that my career began and almost ended within the first 6 months. I was teaching a biology class, of all things. I had one student, who shall remain anonymous, who liked to say every swear word that is in our vocabulary and then some I probably had never heard before or since. Well, on this one particular day, I actually had a very good class discussion going, when she decided she needed to add her two cents which was prefaced with all her swear words. I happened to be standing behind her when she started and for the life of me, I cannot say what came over me (in a matter of a few minutes my life flashed before my eyes) but my hand came up and I popped her upside the head. The entire class gave one big GASP and sat in total silence waiting, and I was waiting, to see what came next. She sputtered, and then in an incredulous voice said, "You HIT me! You really hit me!!" Not knowing what else to do, I very quickly and smartly retorted, "If you continue to talk like that I might do it again." (How stupid of me, right??) As I mentioned, I really thought that would be the end of my career. However 28 years later I am still teaching and believe it or not, I changed a life that day. I am not sure whose, mine or hers, but she never swore in my presence again and for the next twelve years that I taught there, she continued to come back every year after she graduated to see me and let me know where her life had taken her. I do not know if it was because she believed I really cared (which I did) or if somebody finally stood up to her and said enough was enough. I would like to believe that we both became better people after that experience. I would never ever think of doing that today; however, it wasn't like I had planned it then. It is strange though how sometimes things just happen. I was forunate that day that I did not lose my job. I would have missed out on these past 28 years which have been the most fulfilling and frustrating and yet memorable years of my life. Teaching, besides parenthood, has given me such purpose in life. I truly feel blessed by all that I have learned and hopefully for all the good that I imparted.

The Beginning

Yesterday, I started my blog and got a little carried away. I sounded more cynical than I intended so I thought would go way back to the beginning to try to find out when that happened. Every since I was a little girl I think I wanted to be in law enforcement or teach. I spent my days playing school with my sister who was dressed in her nun outfit or playing cops and robbers with the neighbor kids. Women were just be allowed onto the police force when I graduated from high school. At that time, they either worked the desk or undercover as prostitutes. Well, being a nice Catholic girl with a parochial education, that was not about to sit well with my father. SO teaching it was. Even that did not sit well with my father who believed that girls did not need a college education because most girls just got married and had babies. I was different--I wanted that piece of paper and a career. What a rebel!!!! IT took me a number of years----13--to be exact to get that piece of paper and I was darn proud of it. BUT to find a job once I had it was another hurdle. It was just my luck that when I was ready to look for a teaching position, Michigan was in a recession, like now, and laying off hundreds of teachers. I found a job in Adult and Community Education. It was to be a journey of discovery, a time of growth and a period of self-fulfillment like I never thought I would find. I found my home, my niche, my BEING. I really felt like I was impacting lives for the better. What I did meant something. I wasn't being idealistic--it was real. I had a purpose and gave it my all and received so much more in return. It was then that I new I had found my calling and chosen the right career path.

Who Am I?

The question of the century, I think. I am a high school teacher and in saying that it is like I am telling you all about myself. It is what I have spent 28 years of my life doing, even as a single-parent, I taught. I put all my energies into it trying to design lesson plans that challenged, or made students think by digging deep. At first, this approach worked. Students rose to the challenge and many came out the winners. After they graduated, often they would come back and tell me that their freshman course in Psycholoygy, American History, or Government was a revision of the class they had with me. I felt encouraged. It was as if I had taken them to the mountain top and back again. They were successful and I had a hand in helping them. I was fulfilled. It was gratifying. And of course, I have to be honest here and say that my own ego was boosted. However, today when people hear I teach high school, they almost want to apologize. The days of challenging students isn't as easy as it once was. Today, many students want the easy road. They enter into my AP class and ask if it's going to be fun. NO! AP is not fun; it is hard work, but if you work hard we might be able to also have fun. The fun doesn't come because the majority of the students don't want to work. Actually they just want their transcripts to say they took an AP class. SO all the hard work that went into the preparation for teaching the class, all the well thought out assignments only meant something to you, the teacher. They don't see any of it as fun. At night I teach college English and many of my students are going into education, but not secondary. They look at me in horror when I ask why not. There are days I look like that too. Some mornings I wonder if I can face another challenging day of teenagers questioning the day's lessons, or talking without regard for anyone else in the class, or just being rude. Our principal tells us that kids haven't changed that much, they are still the same. Unfortunately, she has not been in the classroom in quite some years so she is speaking from a time when kids listened to their elders, did what was asked and everything was fine. I would like to believe that kids today are that way. I look around me and well.......I have to say some of those common courtesies are gone. Today, not all students want to be challenged. I have found that many want things to be easily accessible, less thought provoking and time consuming. The age of computers and the internet should be a time of opening doors to new ideas and experiences. Wouldn't that be nice if it were true. The age of computers is part of the problem. Sometimes students, I believe, feel they don't a teacher just their computers.
So once again I ask myself WHO AM I and the answer is becoming much harder to find. I have to dig deeper these days. I know it is there hiding somewhere just out of sight.

Who Am I?