Hitting My Stride

This was a good work week for me. I am finally feeling more comfortable as a teacher – I’m thinking of myself as a teacher. One reason is that I can feel that the students think of me as their teacher, ask me questions as their teacher, come to me with concerns etc. I am also feeling more comfortable with the classroom management side of things. On Friday during 2nd period, we had a few different activities going on during the period, and part of the time was allotted to a writing assignment. The students were supposed to be working independently, but were having a hard time getting quiet and on task. I had to tell them to get back on task. When we were reflecting after, Mr. M told me that he liked how I handled the situation – he said that I was polite, respectful, but abrupt in the way that I asked them to get back on task, which he said made it clear that I was firm on the issue. I’ve mentioned before that I am uncomfortable "disciplining", so it was good to hear that I handled it well. The most important thing to me is that I find my own style, and that I am fair, consistent, and respectful of each of my students.

Another reason I am feeling more like a teacher, more excited about the profession, more like I’ve found the right profession for me was because I attended the Arizona English Teachers’ Association conference this weekend. It was an uh-mazing experience, I learned so many new and interesting things, books to suggest to my students, techniques to use in the classroom, etc. I appreciated being with people who are passionate about the same things I am, and talking to them about their experiences and the things they do in their classroom. Also, the food was really really good – and free food equals WIN when you are a student teacher. Also also, on Friday night of the conference, there was a performance by spoken word/slam poet Merlyn Hepworth. He rocked my socks off... here is a video of him performing the first poem he performed for us. It's about being caught between two cultures (he is half Caucasion, and half Chicano). It's powerful and amazing:

Overall, good week, I'm doing well, still trying to get through the Tartuffe essays and not getting a whole lot of sleep with prepping still taking me a long time. But I'm happy and I'm learning a lot, and those are the most important things.