be a better teacher

or books that changed your viewpoint in some way. Thanks for your help. I know that they’re are already lots of book lists and books that are listed on 43 things, but it’s nice to hear from individuals. I’ll pass the recommendations on to my students. Sometimes they don’t read because they’re not aware of everything that is available. I’m always recommending books, but different ideas are always nice. What I have gotten immersed in may not appeal to someone else, so it’s always nice to have a variety.

Tonight I’m putting a snow shovel underneath my pillow. I’ll hate myself in June, but right now a snow day sounds darn good.

Thirteen years of teaching is enough. It’s time to look for something different. I’m not sure what yet, but something that doesn’t involve working with adolescents.

I also wish I could figure out a way to motivate them more. It’s getting better, but there is still so much to do. I have to tell myself that I’m such a small part of their lives. Years from now they won’t remember who the hell I was or what I said. So often it seems like it all just doesn’t matter.

Kodachrome
Paul Simon

When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school
It’s a wonder I can think at all
And though my lack of education hasn’t hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away

If you took all the girls I knew when I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they’d never match my sweet imagination
Everything looks worse in black and white

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away

Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away

Mama don’t take my Kodachrome
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away

Mama don’t take my Kodachrome
Leave your boy so far from home
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away

Mama don’t take my Kodachrome
Uhm uhm!
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away
O.K.!

OR THERE’S ALWAYS PINK FLOYD

Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 (Waters) 3:56

We don’t need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it’s just another brick in the wall.
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall.

We don’t need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it’s just another brick in the wall.
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall.

“Wrong, Do it again!”
“If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding. How can you
have any pudding if you don’t eat yer meat?”
“You! Yes, you behind the bikesheds, stand still laddy!”

Okay, no thought control. Can I tell them I don’t care what the hell they think, as long as they think?

I think it’s time to call it a day.

I have to remember that the goal is to take them from being students who hate reading or who are reluctant readers to making them people who like to read and see reading as rewarding. Ahh, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

One boy finished All Quiet on the Western Front and appreciated it. He’s only 17. I know he doesn’t understand it in all its complexity and depth, but its a start. Perhaps, he’ll read it again some day when he’s older and appreciate it again in a different light. Small victories.

From Wikipedia

Causes for Teacher Burnout

Burnout is the result of a long period of stress. Stress comes from the perception of a teacher that the resources available to deal with the stress are not adequate. In other words, the stressors (demands from the job) outweigh the resources available to deal with the demands. Example: “Teachers must face a classroom full of students every day, negotiate potentially stressful interactions with parents, administrators, counselors, and other teachers, contend with relatively low pay and shrinking school budgets, and ensure students meet increasingly strict standards of accountability.” (Wood, McCarthy 2000).

One interesting aspect of teacher burnout is the thought that younger teachers are experiencing burnout due to lack of mentoring. It is the hope that guidance from a more experienced teacher will aide in the way prospective and novice teachers handle the stress of the job.

Teenagers are so in their own little world I’m not even sure why we try to communicate with them in masses. One on one it is possible. However, in a classroom, I think all they hear is Charlie Brown’s teacher—wah, wah, wah, wah.

Yes, I’m still at school grading, and yes, I’m feeling really beaten down.

I think I’ll go home and curl up in a fetal position.

to teach. I need to celebrate all the small victories. There are small victories, aren’t there? Expanding horizons is hard work.

Random thoughts:
They tire me out. I wish I had half their energy. Half of the kids in school are on free or reduced lunch. The economy in this area is ABYSMALLY TERRIBLE. Many of their parents have lost their jobs. It’s sad.

Random thoughts:

I have three academic junior English classes. Almost all of the kids in my classes say they don’t like to read—anything. I’m working hard to convince them that they miss out on so much by not reading. There are whole other worlds out there. Today, they chose Sustained Silent Reading books. The books can either be fiction or nonfiction,and they are required to read 10 minutes in class and 20 minutes at home. After they read, they are required to journal about their reading, not a summary, but reactions to what they have read.

Teaching is really more about being a cheerleader than anything else. They are lovely kids. Unique and full of life. Curious, anxious, and unsure about their future.

Frustration—I need 31 more textbooks.

Today in one class, we read “Coming to an Awareness of Language” from Malcolm X’s autobiography. Tomorrow we discuss it.