The best response I can offer is a poem of my own.
My teaching poem is excited be finished with undergrad and ready to change lives and reach young people.
My teaching poem is a long-term sub in a class that is not my own, with students who are not my own, in a building that is not my own.
My teaching poem is a new job in a place that is familiar to me, but different because of the new perspective I have on it.
My teaching poem is being hired with two weeks to plan, ask questions, find books, set up a classroom, try to understand what I am supposed to be doing worry that this was all a big mistake, try to find a way out of it.
My teaching poem is a rocky year, but a productive one; hours spent planning, and minutes spent scrambling to find a new plan when the first one failed.
My teaching poem is taking on more responsibility – “Of course I will be the drama sponsor, I have lots of time.”
My teaching poem is being “let go” not because I was a poor teacher, but because we have too many teachers and not enough students – classrooms hold 40 right?
My teaching poem is the same job in July - “We found some room.”
My teaching poem is a brand new year, with brand new classes, brand new students, brand new principal, brand new district name, brand new curriculum guidelines, brand new expectations and the same problems from the year before.
My teaching poem is taking on more responsibility – “Of course I will be the speech and debate sponsor, I have lots of time.”
My teaching poem is a fight between district and union - Who is ready to strike? Who is here for the students? Who knows when we get paid?
My teaching poem is, “Just close your door and teach.”
My teaching poem is another year down, but at least I get to come back.
My teaching poem is a brand new year, with brand new classes, brand new students, brand school schedule, brand new district titles, brand new curriculum maps, brand new expectations and the same problems from the year before.
My teaching poem is tensions between teachers and administrators.
My teaching poem is filling 90 minutes with material I have never taught before.
My teaching poem connections with students I have known for a few years.
My teaching poem is finally understanding what I am supposed to be doing – most of the time.
My teaching poem is plays and speech meets and set building and rehearsals and auditions and afterschool practices and seeing students come alive.
My teaching poem is taking on more responsibility – “Of course I will be the start a graduate program, I have lots of time.”
My teaching poem is grading homework, planning homework, doing homework, hating homework.My teaching poem is “fatigue, boredom, repetition, beat, blasé, spent, played out, sleepy, uninterested, on one’s last legs.”
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Nic (Dude!) that's beautiful. Thanks for being honest.
ReplyDeleteNic,
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing. You capture the essence of the professional side of teaching as well as the emotional side of the job. You clearly show the struggles all teachers experience no matter the years under the belt. This totally relates to what Bishop says when she discusses trying to keep up, andvance, and succeed. We need stimuli to keep us from becoming fatigued, bored, repetitive, etc. Awesome interpretation of educational growth!
Nic, Great poem. As Cathy and Shaynee said, it captures the frustrations of teaching beautifully without sounding like a wail. On first reading Bishop’s article, it’s easy to take it as an exhortation to do more, and as you point out, it’s nigh on impossible to fit “more” in. However, reading your poem and all the other blogs of our classmates, I see why Bishop encourages association between colleagues. It reminds us that we are not alone in our struggles, and it gives us a place to talk with others who understand. It also gives us an avenue to good writing and fresh ideas.
ReplyDeleteOne of the fresh realizations I had from your poem is that we are already doing enough in many ways. I am not saying that we shouldn’t continue to learn and grow, but look how much we do with almost no background or preparation! And we frequently do well. Your line about speech and debate made me flashback to my high school speech teacher. I see now that he was probably just about your age and probably felt as unprepared as you, but it was a terrific experience for our group. We knew that our teacher wanted to help us and that he was on our side. I am still using techniques I learned from him. Maybe he learned them the day before he taught them; I don’t know. Maybe he passed on useless or bad information; I don’t know that, either. But I do know that a few good solid ideas stuck. If I can do that much for my students, I will be satisfied.
Again, nice poem.