“Learning is finding out what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. You are all learners, doers, teachers.”
- Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
- Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
So, yeah, I'm awful at this. I missed two whole weeks, maybe three, I don't even know. Well, I have been really busy but I imagine I'll be busy every week for the rest of my life. Except, perhaps, during the summer time, but definitely not this summer. Anyway, I apologize for being bad about posting lately. And, I have to apologize again because I'm going to kind of flake out a little bit on this post and just copy and paste some stuff in here. Sorry guys, two weeks to go for my student teaching. I have a lot of things coming down to the wire.
First - My students gave their poetry slam this week. It went splendidly. I'm going to paste an entry of my journal here. Enjoy:
March 13th, 2014 - Kearns High School - Sophomores
One of my students made me cry today.
There are only a few moments in my life that I have ever cried out of happiness. One, when my nephew was born and I saw my brother, Steven Scott Overby smile while holding him (a story for a different time). Two, when I stood on the beach in Italy with my husband while we said our vows to each other. Today makes three.
I've been watching this seemingly disinterested student for a while. I say seemingly because she comes to class everyday and just stares at me. She never turns in any work and she never says a word in class. However, I know better because she comes everyday before school and talks to me about the lessons and the things she has discovered. She tells me she loves English. She's very intelligent and writes brilliantly. She has always been quite a conundrum to me and my site teacher, Precindia Hansen Parks.
I have been working with the school writing club for the past couple of months for my AmeriCorps project. We've been learning about bullying and writing slam poems focusing on prevention and being an ally to those we see bullied in school. Another reason that I know that my seemingly disinterested student is, in fact, interested, is that she has been actively and excitedly participating along side this after school group as well. Today we presented our poems.
As I watched my quiet, introverted student stand up in front of the classroom, my heart fluttered. I was so nervous for her. She blew everyone away. She was the only student who had her poem entirely memorized. One tear managed to escape my eye as I listened to her and observed the student audience's response to her poem. It was raw, it was true, and it was powerful. She had the other students in tears. I saw more emotion in this one moment then I have seen in any of my students the entire quarter I've been with them.
After she finished, I was beaming. I wanted to run up to her and give her the biggest hug. I wanted to tell her how proud I was of her. Alas, no hugging and emotion isn't really that cool in high school. Still, I did manage to tell her that she did a great job and that she affected a lot of people today.
When I finally got in the car and reflected on the event, the tears started streaming. I hope this student feels absolutely amazing right now, because she certainly made me feel like I've done something right.
I have already had many frustrated students tell me that I don’t care about them. While, it is easy to understand where they are coming from, I don’t think that most students or parents understand just how much a teacher invests and cared about them.
Sure, there are teachers who are in it for the paycheck. I’m here to tell you that those teachers are fools. Student teaching is an unpaid endeavor but I can already tell that any monetary compensation I receive for teaching is not worth it. I spend hours grading and providing thoughtful feedback for student work; hours during the weekend or evenings trying to get a hold of students’ parents to let them know how their son or daughter is progressing in my class, be that bad or good. I come an hour before and stay an hour after my contracted hours, helping students who are desperately trying to understand how to become better readers and writers. I spend just as much time worrying about those students who don’t.
What makes teaching worthwhile are the moments like the one I had today with my student. There are so many frustrating parts to being a teacher: angry parents, apathetic students, our pay being based on how enthusiastic a student is when taking a standardized test. However, when you see a student finally understand a concept they have been struggling with, when you see their eyes light up and hear their joyous exclamation of relief and pride in themselves; when you watch a student, who has to pack around their parent’s mistakes and addictions, leave that pack at the door and be the most successful student in your class; when you watch a student who has been taunted and intimidated into submission, stand up and share her feelings in front of a classroom full of her peers… and to watch them cry in response; these are the moments that make teaching worth it.
Second - I've been working hard on my teaching portfolio so I have something to present to perspective hiring committees for schools. It's not complete yet, but check it out (It looks nicer if you don't access this on a mobile device, the mobile website it stupid).
http://brandybrowneportfolio.weebly.com
Third - Look what time it is!!!!!
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