One more post this week about teaching, and then it's Thanksgiving Break! A moratorium on educational topics is in place until next week.
I joke over there --------------> that I'm not a teacher, I just play one. And I really do think that. I never went to school with the express intent of becoming a teacher, so I picked up much of my training in teaching high school while I was in high school - I just wasn't cognizant of it at the time. I notice that I parrot a lot of my former teachers. I assign similar projects as I was assigned in high school chemistry. I've even said the same phrases as my senior-year-physics and multiple-year-social-studies teachers. I sense my favorite history teachers and professors, in my own classroom energy and management. I see my French and English teachers in me, too, particularly when it comes to compassion and individual attention. I heard a clip on NPR a couple weeks ago (I think - I can't find evidence of this anywhere online), in which the commentator said that he learned to be a waiter by pretending to be a waiter. That resonates - I think I learned to teach by pretending to be a teacher. Having had no formal teacher training, I model my teacherly behavior after my own teachers.
Of course, I'm already extrapolating this forward. Who are the future teachers sitting in my classroom? What are they picking up from me now that they will pass onto their students ten or twenty years from now? I already feel the burden of representing science to my students; they will form opinions of science in my classroom that will affect how they view science for the rest of their lives. But this newfound responsibility towards the future students of my own students - I'm constantly amazed at what is entrusted to me.
It's that time of year - Thanksgiving break is upon us and Christmas will follow closely. While I was an undergrad, I would occasionally stop in to see my teachers when I was home for university holidays. Even as recently as last Christmas, I visited the few remaining teachers at my old high school. Now I am the teacher being visited by former students. I gained incredible respect for my own teachers throughout my first year of teaching, but to have their perspective on these pleasantries, too... this novelty has not worn off! Of course, in this facebook age, it's remarkably easy to keep in touch with former students, and I think our school fosters a very different kind of relationship and involvement in students' lives than I experienced in school. Very much for the better. Anyhow, a friend and I were discussing yesterday our lack of friends who just drop by. Granted, my friend base is a 45-minute drive away, so a dropping-by requires a trip. Anyhow, my point is that I love it. So, if you're in town for the holidays, drop by! Your teachers would love to see you again.
I joke over there --------------> that I'm not a teacher, I just play one. And I really do think that. I never went to school with the express intent of becoming a teacher, so I picked up much of my training in teaching high school while I was in high school - I just wasn't cognizant of it at the time. I notice that I parrot a lot of my former teachers. I assign similar projects as I was assigned in high school chemistry. I've even said the same phrases as my senior-year-physics and multiple-year-social-studies teachers. I sense my favorite history teachers and professors, in my own classroom energy and management. I see my French and English teachers in me, too, particularly when it comes to compassion and individual attention. I heard a clip on NPR a couple weeks ago (I think - I can't find evidence of this anywhere online), in which the commentator said that he learned to be a waiter by pretending to be a waiter. That resonates - I think I learned to teach by pretending to be a teacher. Having had no formal teacher training, I model my teacherly behavior after my own teachers.
Of course, I'm already extrapolating this forward. Who are the future teachers sitting in my classroom? What are they picking up from me now that they will pass onto their students ten or twenty years from now? I already feel the burden of representing science to my students; they will form opinions of science in my classroom that will affect how they view science for the rest of their lives. But this newfound responsibility towards the future students of my own students - I'm constantly amazed at what is entrusted to me.
It's that time of year - Thanksgiving break is upon us and Christmas will follow closely. While I was an undergrad, I would occasionally stop in to see my teachers when I was home for university holidays. Even as recently as last Christmas, I visited the few remaining teachers at my old high school. Now I am the teacher being visited by former students. I gained incredible respect for my own teachers throughout my first year of teaching, but to have their perspective on these pleasantries, too... this novelty has not worn off! Of course, in this facebook age, it's remarkably easy to keep in touch with former students, and I think our school fosters a very different kind of relationship and involvement in students' lives than I experienced in school. Very much for the better. Anyhow, a friend and I were discussing yesterday our lack of friends who just drop by. Granted, my friend base is a 45-minute drive away, so a dropping-by requires a trip. Anyhow, my point is that I love it. So, if you're in town for the holidays, drop by! Your teachers would love to see you again.
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