How are your classes coming along? Is there excitement in the air when you're teaching a lesson? Are the kids involved and eager to learn, or are they fading into a stupor with each new word you utter? Do you feel like you've failed by the end of September? Maybe teaching isn't meant for you? Do you go home at night wondering why in the hell you chose this profession?
In all honesty there aren't too many teachers who haven't felt that way from time to time, and usually that time is during the first year of teaching. I don't care how many education classes you take in college; until you stand in front of your first class....your first class....you have no idea what it takes to be a successful teacher. Teaching involves learning as you go. If something isn't working in one of your plans, change it. If your approach isn't working, find a new approach. There is no safety net in teaching. You are walking a tightrope daily and only experience will give you the confidence and flexibility it takes to survive in one of the most challenging careers.
I heard a marvelous speaker about ten years ago, a Father O'Malley from New York. He mentioned that we, as teachers, are in a battle with technology for the attention of our students. We're talking about kids who have access to games online....who have the latest Nintendo games and Ipods and cell phones that allow internet access, and then there is cable tv with hundreds of channels and on and on. What chance do we have as teachers to make school interesting when we are battling the enticements I just mentioned?
That is our greatest challenge as teachers, to make school interesting, to grab the attention of the students and hold that interest long enough for learning to occur. That is why I'm a big fan of field trips. I'm not talking about unlimited field trips because I fully understand the effort that goes into organizing one and I also understand that the hours spent away from the classroom are hours that can't be spent readying for the standardized tests that we are all married to. But what a marvel of learning a field trip can be.
Look around your area and see what is at your disposal. Do you live in Oregon or anywhere along the Oregon Trail? What better way to teach about it than to have the kids actually stand in the wagon tracks and see the conditions the actual settlers experienced. How about geology? Any interesting rock formations in your area? How about a walk through a forest for biology or a trip to the shoreline for science class. The possibilities are endless no matter where you teach and it so much more interesting for the kids than reading about it out of a textbook.
Remember, you are in a battle for the minds of your students. If you don't win that battle then we are all losers.
Bill Holland
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
WHEN LIFE HANDS YOU LEMONS, MAKE LEMONADE!
Tell me if this sounds familiar. You've worked hard during the weekend putting together your plans for the week. On paper everything looks perfect, one day flowing into the next, perfect coordination, a finely-tuned teaching machine. You come to school Monday and discover that there is an unscheduled school assembly which starts fifteen minutes into third period and will end with fifteen minutes remaining in fourth period. Now what do you do? Those wonderfully-crafted plans for third and fourth period just went up in smoke. You can't possibly cover the material you needed to cover in either period and you have no clue what you're going to do. Sound like anything you've had to face in the past?
If you are like me, if your school is anything like the schools I've worked at, that scenario plays out quite a few times during a normal school year. But don't despair! There is a way to make it all work for you; all it takes is a little damage control at the beginning of the year.
Each year I have made it a point to assign a semester assignment for each class I teach. I lay out the requirements, work on setting up the assignment that first week and give the kids my expectations and due date and tell them that they can plan on receiving scheduled and unscheduled class time to work on the project so they had better have their work with them each and every day in case it is needed. This is a perfect solution for those periods that are interrupted, leaving you with fifteen minutes to kill and no chance of starting your plans for the day. Just close your plan book, drop back ten yards and punt, going with the semester project.
And to think, you get this advice for free!
Bill Holland
Tell me if this sounds familiar. You've worked hard during the weekend putting together your plans for the week. On paper everything looks perfect, one day flowing into the next, perfect coordination, a finely-tuned teaching machine. You come to school Monday and discover that there is an unscheduled school assembly which starts fifteen minutes into third period and will end with fifteen minutes remaining in fourth period. Now what do you do? Those wonderfully-crafted plans for third and fourth period just went up in smoke. You can't possibly cover the material you needed to cover in either period and you have no clue what you're going to do. Sound like anything you've had to face in the past?
If you are like me, if your school is anything like the schools I've worked at, that scenario plays out quite a few times during a normal school year. But don't despair! There is a way to make it all work for you; all it takes is a little damage control at the beginning of the year.
Each year I have made it a point to assign a semester assignment for each class I teach. I lay out the requirements, work on setting up the assignment that first week and give the kids my expectations and due date and tell them that they can plan on receiving scheduled and unscheduled class time to work on the project so they had better have their work with them each and every day in case it is needed. This is a perfect solution for those periods that are interrupted, leaving you with fifteen minutes to kill and no chance of starting your plans for the day. Just close your plan book, drop back ten yards and punt, going with the semester project.
And to think, you get this advice for free!
Bill Holland
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