Week Four: Let the Teaching Begin!

I just completed my first week of teaching, and what a learning experience it was!  Statistically I would say the week went pretty well: two awesome days, one average day and one horrible day (and one teacher workday).  So by the law of averages, I guess I will count my first week of teaching as a success.

The most important lesson learned:  every day is different.  This is one of the reasons I chose to pursue teaching as a career.  I tend to get bored easily and enjoy never knowing what to expect… and you certainly never know what to expect with 30 teenagers in a room.  From this I have also learned that one day a student will love you and the next they may hate you.  However, the teacher’s job is not to be a friend, but to teach.  I would of course love to be a friend that teaches, but am gradually recognizing the limits of being a friend to my students and the roles that I often may have to fill which will typically result in some students wishing I just hadn’t shown up that morning…

“You mean we have to write all that down?”

“Yes, you have to write all that down.”

Ultimately my goal is to have the respect of my students and to challenge them to grow academically and as individuals.  I am discovering however, that students often fight being challenged.  They often demonstrate fear of being wrong and don't believe they possess adequate knowledge, even though they often do.  My challenge and that of teachers everywhere, is to help students see that they can accomplish challenging tasks if they put in the effort and are willing to accept help.  In this one week alone I have seen several students get frustrated when I would not give them the answer to a question outright, when they were asked to think a question through and develop their own solutions.  Yet, when the light goes on and you can see understanding light up behind their eyes there is no better feeling.

I have also discovered this past week, the hard way, that I cannot please everyone all the time -- a life lesson if there ever was one!  At the conclusion of class on Friday I asked the students to provide me with anonymous feedback regarding my teaching and to note the various elements of the lessons they liked and disliked.  For every student that said they hated the group work, another would ask for more; and while many complained about taking notes, several mentioned that they actually LIKED taking notes.  This clearly illustrated for me a lesson stressed throughout my master’s program: the importance and necessity of teaching through a variety of methods.  While I want all of my students to have fun while learning and to be actively engaged through the entire class period, everyone learns differently.  Turns out Howard Gardener has a point.  I think that I did a fairly good job providing the material in different forms and geared to different learners, but will strive over these next few weeks to continue finding creative ways to teach to different learning styles.

I would have to say the best moment of the week was Friday before the start of second period.  As the students streamed in before the minute bell rang, several students stopped to tell me news about various aspects of their day.  One had received a bad mark on her report card and wanted to vent, another was excited to share her acceptance into a prestigious extracurricular program, and one just wanted to let me know that she knew I had missed her yesterday when she was absent.  It was at this moment that I knew for sure that I am going to love being a teacher!