Sunday, July 25, 2004
Where did the summer go?
Tomorrow, I report to Roswell High School for what I affectionately call New Teacher Torture. "New Teacher" includes anyone who has not taught in this district even if you have 4 years of teaching experience. I'm trying to remain optimistic, but past experiences with such "training" has proven to be quite painful. Frequently they involve workshops on how to perform the massive amounts of administrivia that teachers must do in addition to the actual teaching, prep, and grading. The only thing worse than doing the paperwork is talking about it for hours. Then you have the workshops on innovative teaching techniques conducted by people who do not work in classrooms on a daily basis and invariably fail to use effective teaching strategies with us, making us even more skeptical of their ideas. On top of that, teachers tend to be the worst students. We are highly critical of whomever is "teaching" us and like to be the center of attention. We, therefore, zone out, work on other things, or just talk.
But really...I'm trying to be optimistic. They are providing breakfast each morning, I look forward to meeting the other new teachers, and I hope to get some lesson plans done during the more boring workshops. I'm also looking forward to setting up my classroom. That has always been one of my favorite pre-planning activities. The great thing about teaching (to me) is that even though I get burned out by the end of the school year, I'm always ready and excited to go back in the fall. My summer did seem a bit short since I spent part of it teaching in Alaska and planning a wedding, but I'm thankful for the three weeks of vacation I did get, and I look forward to starting my new job!
Tomorrow, I report to Roswell High School for what I affectionately call New Teacher Torture. "New Teacher" includes anyone who has not taught in this district even if you have 4 years of teaching experience. I'm trying to remain optimistic, but past experiences with such "training" has proven to be quite painful. Frequently they involve workshops on how to perform the massive amounts of administrivia that teachers must do in addition to the actual teaching, prep, and grading. The only thing worse than doing the paperwork is talking about it for hours. Then you have the workshops on innovative teaching techniques conducted by people who do not work in classrooms on a daily basis and invariably fail to use effective teaching strategies with us, making us even more skeptical of their ideas. On top of that, teachers tend to be the worst students. We are highly critical of whomever is "teaching" us and like to be the center of attention. We, therefore, zone out, work on other things, or just talk.
But really...I'm trying to be optimistic. They are providing breakfast each morning, I look forward to meeting the other new teachers, and I hope to get some lesson plans done during the more boring workshops. I'm also looking forward to setting up my classroom. That has always been one of my favorite pre-planning activities. The great thing about teaching (to me) is that even though I get burned out by the end of the school year, I'm always ready and excited to go back in the fall. My summer did seem a bit short since I spent part of it teaching in Alaska and planning a wedding, but I'm thankful for the three weeks of vacation I did get, and I look forward to starting my new job!
