Video Conference

I am very happy. I just completed a video conference with Phil Toledano, a photographer and author who created "Days with My Father," a photo essay we studied in our non-fiction unit.

It went well. So well. Better than I dared hope. I was so nervous that my kids would be bored, be inappropriate, be disrespectful... but Phil was amazing with them, and they loved him. He answered their questions, made them feel comfortable, and really engaged them.

The experience really reinforced a lot of my thoughts about teaching: You can say the wisest, most useful things, but if you can't get them to pay attention to you, they won't get any of it.

I can make them be quiet, but I can't make them really listen to me. To be successful, I have to make them want to listen to me. I have to entertain them. Whenever possible, I have to hold their attention, not demand it.

Phil did just that. He was funny and just edgy enough, but he wasn't just funny and edgy. He offered meaningful insights on aging, respecting our parents and grandparents, and gave useful advice about writing and art.

But he also shared an impression of a valley girl commenting on how large her derriere looked in a certain skirt--an impression I know my kids will be quoting for weeks, though I imagine it will be edited a bit when they're in earshot of a teacher.

Now, the kids probably won't be able to quote everything he said with such accuracy. For instance, I don't expect they could tell me exactly what he said about how to begin a photo essay or recite his words on the value of family. But they heard it, and they will remember some of it-- way more of it, I would bet, than if he had repeated all his answers twice, but had been boring.

Is being entertaining requisite to being a good teacher? I don't know. Maybe not. I've had great teachers that weren't particularly hilarious. But maybe they were still engaging somehow. Those aren't necessarily the same thing...

At least for me, for my personality, my set of gifts, I feel that working to be entertaining is something I have to do if I'm going to be as effective as I can be in my classroom.

So, it's been a while

I haven't posted in a long long time, and a lot has changed since then.

I left my first school, and I am teaching now at a Christian school where I am much much happier. I am in the third year of being a "real teacher," and I am amazed at how much easier it is to do once you've been at it a little while.

I'm facing again a lot of the new-teacher struggles I faced 2 years ago since I'm at a different school, but it is no comparison to the battle it was for me to be a first time teacher.

I'm teaching ninth-grade now, and I have so much more freedom in my curriculum. It is wonderful! It's a lot of work for me this year, since I'm generating my own tests, homework, quizzes, etc, but it is worth it. Next year, I think I will have to come up with some time saving tactics because I'm not sure this is a sustainable lifestyle, with coaching (did I mention I'm also coaching track and cross-country?), grading, planning, etc, but I am happy.

I have moments--days or weeks at a time, sometimes-- when I feel overwhelmed, incapable, and discouraged, but that's no longer my default. For the most part, I am excited to be learning and improving, enjoying my students, and happy to come to work.