Christenbury, if nothing else, gives us many ways to look at our teaching styles in this chapter. We can be maniacal and devote 110% of our time to our class and end up hating our students, our job and ourselves, or...We can take the road less traveled for new teachers. Balance our workload, keep grading and planning work at school (including griping to your spouse), and find someone at school you can share with when times are hard.
I find this to be a successful bit of advice in any profession. As a much older student, I've had numerous jobs where I have attempted to do my best, but have been hampered by rules, mandates, and bureaucracy. My solution has been to find someone who you can gripe to. You don't want to find someone who is overly negative, as they may push you to the "disgruntled" personality. You want someone who can agree when they should and help you find that light at the end of the tunnel when it's there. This will keep you balanced, but feeling like you have a true avenue for venting.
~Stan
4 comments:
Stan,
thanks for enlightening me. I believe you are right it is important to find someone who has been in those hard times and can help us through them as well. I think it is important to remember these times so when we encounter new teachers we can be that person to them.
We can take the road less traveled for new teachers. We are prepared, or somewhat prepared, for what we are about to tackle when we enter the profession and the rest we will learn and we will be there to help each other through (and I'm not talking about our 405 class being there for each other for years and years...I'm talking about teachers in general...In case that wasn't clear!!)
I'm confused. I got a tattoo last night with everyone's name. It runs the entire length of my back. I thought we were always going to be one big family, no? I wonder if I can get this thing removed.
P.S. Your name and Kitty's hurt the worst. Stupid long names!
~Stan
It's funny that you mentioned the road less traveled, because I did a project in IMT 365 around that poem....anyway, that's beside the point.
Really, I just wanted to say that I agree with you completely.
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