A Journey With a Purpose

I have found myself feeling overwhelmed, at times, during my school career.  However, I keep trying to remind myself to look at the big picture, and not get bogged down with all the little things.  "Bird by Bird" (just that one example from the book - not the book itself) is a good example of how I tackle things.  When I feel overwhelmed with school I think about what is making me feel so overwhelmed and go from there.  The fact that I am a mother of two with lots to juggle tends to make sorting out what's making me feel overwhelmed difficult.  The amount of reading, especially in the beginning of the quarter, was hard to absorb.  I have heard many cohort members say how frustrated they are in regards to the amount of reading, and the fact that we do not talk about the readings in class is disappointing - and I have to agree.  The most frustrating thing for me about not going over the readings is that I put all the time and effort into reading, and when we don't cover the material in class I lose a lot of what I read.  Talking about the readings helps me remember what I read and synthesize the readings with classwork, lectures, and with other readings.

This may all sound like complaining, but I am using my own school experience to to guide how I think about my future students.  I want the work they do to be meaningful and the time they spend on homework to be valued and reinforced in class.  We adults think our lives are so important, and we tend to minimize the way kids feel about their lives.  My own kids have taught me to put things in perspective in this area.  I have seen their feelings get hurt when people have minimized something they have done, making them feel unappreciated, ignored.  I do not want my students to feel under appreciated or under valued.

I know that kids these days have very busy lives.  Between sports and other extracurricular activities, split families, parents who work more than one job, and kids who spend time in day care - kids have crazy busy schedules too.  We will never know exactly what is going on inside their homes - whether or not they are being supported or have to do things on their own.  I want to keep all that in mind when I create lesson plans and when interact with my students.

The purpose of my journey is to learn all I can about the ins and outs of teaching, but I never want to lose sight of my students as individuals during my teaching career.