Thursday, January 24, 2013

Wizard's First Rule


It is the beginning of a new school year. Anyone who has asked me how I like teaching, I’ve responded with varying iterations of this: I don’t. The next logical question is: why not? I usually responded with several reasons, but one that consistently remained was about my students. I felt like I poured my heart and soul into trying to teach them, and I got nothing back. And because of this, I had assumed that I didn’t like my kids.
It’s now the second week of school, which means kids are showing up, and even the teachers know what discipline and grade they are teaching this week (two things that were notably missing in the first week). This year I teach 8th grade chemistry; familiar territory. It means I teach every eighth grade student, every afternoon, excluding Friday. But it also means I get to see all the 9th graders: my former students.
This week, I’ve run into many of my students. Mostly I’ve seen my good students, for those are the ones I remember well. It’s been wonderful to stop and talk to my students, to ask about their holidays. But the best part has been that each of my students from last year have asked if I’m teaching 9th grade chemistry this year.
These interactions have made to rethink my sentiments regarding last year. I left the 2012 school year thinking I disliked my kids, to put it mildly. But as I stood outside the classrooms speaking with my former students, I was happy to hear about their holidays. And (dare I say it) I was proud to see them moving on, moving up. I was excited for them to continue on.
Now maybe this is the beginning of the year naïveté. I have no illusions that I will feel anything but exhausted and burnt out when this year finishes. But perhaps I will reach a point in the distant year of 2014, look back, and remember fondly the students  I teach this year.
The title rule states that people will believe anything if they want it to be true or are afraid it might be. This rule applies. Now all I have to do is figure to which year it applies: last year or this?

Here are also a couple pics from a weekend in ilha! Click either photo to go to flickr and see a couple more.
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IMG_0423


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