The words, "teaching" and "teacher" evoke in almost everyone particular memories and images. For some, these memories are dull, even fearful - they include boredom, routine, and worse. For those of us who construct lives in teaching, these images are necessarily changing and growing, while they are sometimes vivid and concrete, they can as often be characterized by wonder. In either case, images of teaching can fill us with awe, and we can choose to see within them an abiding sense of adventure and challenge.That is definitely the truth for me. I am a fourth year teacher. I had two years of independent living skills teacher under my belt, and now second year elementary teacher. It is a challenging adventure for me to stay organized and abreast with current trends, strategies of what works and what doesn't. Another book I am picking up to fine-tune my adventure as a teacher, "To Teach Like a Pirate" by Dave Burgess. He talked highly about how to make teaching more catchy. Not for the sake of catchy, but teachers like us, we made this our life choice, we sure as well make it worth while for us teacher and students.
As a fourth year teacher, I am wrestling with how to make it worthwhile, and finding my focus in unfocused career that "anything goes" mindset, yet system is there, and it is up to me to make my own focus. It's always "kids first" mentality. Then again, there are system, curriculums to follow, accountability to keep up with.
For me, it is a journey to embark on as a teacher, finding a focus, and keeping it student-centered. It is surprisingly easy to be distracted and become staff-centered.
No Child Left Behind... more like.... Child First!
