Okay, so I will be the first one to admit that there are days when having my own classroom seem intimidating and waaayy overwhelming! I can't see myself doing it, I just know it will be way too hard, and generally I talk myself out of it. However, reason takes over before long and I am back to what I know, which is that teaching is my calling, my passion, and what God put me on this Earth to do.
I bring this up, not just to talk about my fears and insecurities, but to bring up an important point that teaching is hard! There hardly seem enough hours in the day to teach kids everything they are supposed to know by the end of the year. the more I think about it, the more I can see what so many teachers "lecture" in the traditional way we have all come to hate...it requires very little preparation on the teacher's part, you know the kids will at least "hear" all the information they are supposed to know, and you can't possibly mess it up because it is straight from the book! WRONG!
No matter how time-consuming and difficult the work may be, I hope I will always be the kind of teacher who has a passion for teaching and children and a desire to see them enjoy learning! I know that days will come when it will be emotionally, physically and mentally exhausting to do activities and hands on learning experiences for the students, but letting them learn and giving them time to understand and really excel is a thousand times worth the temporary tiredness I will feel.
I am so excited to start teaching, and I really want to encourage all of my fellow pre-service teachers as we stuff ourselves full of information and become overwhelmed at the responsibility we will have soon, that our job is worth it. And being the kind of teacher our students will remember for years down the road, and measure all their other teachers by, will be payment enough!
Okay, so I was subbing last week and had to teach out of a basal reader. Even with the limited information I was given for a lesson, I moved the kids into groups and, throughout the reading, had them discuss ("tell each other") their ideas about questions that I asked. Then I asked them to do an exit card at the end of the lesson about what they learned. They were having deep discussions and really getting into the lesson. The point is that even when we don't have enough time or resources for a hands-on activity, we can still make it interactive, thanks to all this wonderful knowledge we're gaining from this program. I think we're all going to make excellent teachers, no matter what limitations we might have, because we all have that hunger to be great at what we do.
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent point! It is up to us to make a lesson interactive, even with limited resources or options for creativity.
DeleteShelly, you're right! It's a tough journey, but Jenny is right too... You will all blossom into great teachers. Be patient with yourself and give yourself time to grow. And I mean that! Give yourself the space and the patience to make mistakes and to grow!
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