Saturday, May 19, 2007
 | Current mood:reflective... My first year of teaching is almost over and i could not be happier. I had an incredibly frusturating year this year and due to issues at my current school-will be moving on to another school. It just can't be easy for me can it? Major accomplishments of this year-75% of my kids met or exceeded state standards on our test...which, for those of you not in education, kicks ass. I taught A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare and the kids LOVE it. Don't tell me inner city kids can't read Shakespeare. They can read it, enjoy it and even re write it to fit into their world! Seriously, it was their idea to re-write the play in their own langage and neighborhood...which we are doing right now. So many little joys...like Lavelle-the pain in my ass-actually updating a whole speech on his own, on the spot and hitting the mark. Or Shavonte-who talks back to me every single day-saying she is going to miss me....oh the joys! Anyway, the year is almost over and I am looking for a new school. If you are a pray-er, please pray to whomever it is that you pray to, that I will go to a school I can settle into. I really want to get a position at Harvard-a turnaround school here in the city. If you want to know more about that, I can tell you. Its a crazy cool, high pressure situation that is an incredible opporuntity for teachers. The main thing i learned from my first year of teaching....I LOVE TEACHING. Who cares that I can't pee all day or that kids talk back to me every second? the important thing is, I have fun and each day is full of a million little challenges. Like no other job I have had before, teaching is an adventure. Honestly, each day, i am never quite sure what is going to happen or who is going to suprise me. Reading student's refelctions on shakespeare, reading essays students write about whatever, hearing students use language I taught them, seeing a student get his first B ever because of his hard work....of that makes the political bullshit of teaching, and dealing with crazy parents, and the long hours worth it. I love my kids....each and every one of them. The friday before mother's day I was giving my students a ride to an event and one girl asked me, "Ms Wymore, are you a mom?" And before I could even answer, another student said, "of course she is, she has all of us as her kids!" and they are right. I invest in each and every one of them every day and they are my kids...for the time I have them. and I hope they are better kids because of it. I know that I am a better teacher and person because of each one of them....even the major pains in my ass...they tend to teach me the most. |
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