I had the most incredible teacher moment today. The thorn-in-my-side student in my 9th grade class came up to me after class today and thanked me for the last few weeks. He said my class has been fun lately and that he felt like now I was truly listening to the students. It was one of those moments you cherish as a teacher. One, because it so rarely happens and Two, because you realize how close you came to losing an entire group of kids for the year.
I had been feeling pretty horrible about being a teacher for a bit there...waiting for each day to be over as quickly as possible, being overly sarcastic and biting to the students, just throwing work at them to shut them up. I was doing it mostly in defiance. Defiance in the face of a system that has taught their kids how to memorize and regurgitate information, but not think creatively or as an individual. A system that has taught the students to interrupt and be aggressive and argue every point (which, by the way, are actually good traits in moderation). Instead of working with what I was given and adding my own personality and voice, I rebelled and became a bad teacher. And I hated it.
And, thank God, I finally reached my limit and gave up, so to speak. Gave up trying to get into a battle of the wills every day with my students, of fighting a system that I cannot change. I finally decided that I can't change the system, but I can definitely work with it.
And it feels good. I'm finally becoming an internationally minded teacher. This job is incredibly difficult, but I'd be bored if it wasn't!! And who wants to be a teacher and not make a positive impact?
I had been feeling pretty horrible about being a teacher for a bit there...waiting for each day to be over as quickly as possible, being overly sarcastic and biting to the students, just throwing work at them to shut them up. I was doing it mostly in defiance. Defiance in the face of a system that has taught their kids how to memorize and regurgitate information, but not think creatively or as an individual. A system that has taught the students to interrupt and be aggressive and argue every point (which, by the way, are actually good traits in moderation). Instead of working with what I was given and adding my own personality and voice, I rebelled and became a bad teacher. And I hated it.
And, thank God, I finally reached my limit and gave up, so to speak. Gave up trying to get into a battle of the wills every day with my students, of fighting a system that I cannot change. I finally decided that I can't change the system, but I can definitely work with it.
And it feels good. I'm finally becoming an internationally minded teacher. This job is incredibly difficult, but I'd be bored if it wasn't!! And who wants to be a teacher and not make a positive impact?
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