Professional Crossroads

This is my 21st year teaching.  Twenty one years is a really long time....at least for a career.  I really enjoy teaching so the time is flying.  I cannot believe  how fast each school year goes by.  I think they seem to go faster every year.  I am always counting down the days left.  People think it is because I am waiting for the end or the next vacation.  It is mostly so that students are aware how little time there is left in a quarter and how much we still need to accomplish.

So.  Twenty one years.  I keep contemplating my next career move and I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up.    I mean really....I joke with  people that I want to be  a stand up comedian and I am  just practicing my material in the classroom.  I'm really not funny though.

I thought about being a guidance counselor...I don't think I would enjoy working as a guidance counselor.

I  completed a principal training program (never  applied for the license).....I don't think I like what principals and assistant principals do?

That principal license could lend itself to administrative positions...I don't really think I  would like any of those jobs either...too far away from students.

I thought about  working on a transition endorsement.  It would be coursework that would  help me be qualified to  work with students in  community based training programs....I kind of like this idea....It would be  helping students  become ready for the world of work.  So I guess this thought is still on the table.

I have contacted  a couple of doctorate programs.  This is mostly because I have this thought way in the back of my head that I might want to teach at the college level.  It intrigues me but I  don't have the confidence that I  can do this kind of work.....not the college level teaching but the  dissertation and all that it involves.  I think to some degree, completing this kind of work would turn my life upside down and I am not sure I want to do that.  It's a big decision because it does not only uproot me but my husband as well.  It's still on the table but....

I do know one thing:  I am really happy being a teacher.  I love working with students.  I love having conversations with them that promote thinking.  I love  being in the classroom. I love teaching!

Every student needs a champion

This year, I am working in an inclusion Algebra class.  I love Algebra.  It is  a language.  It is  a thought pattern.  It has logic and  clarity.  You can go forwards and backwards.  I tell students it stretches your brain.  If you want to be a lawyer, you need Algebra to enhance your logical brain.  I love Algebra but teaching is not about the math.  It is about the students.

I was working on some data for my Algebra team and some paperwork we have to fill out.  We have two Algebra classes together and as the intervention specialist half of the team, I have students who I am dedicated to work with.  I work with all students but there are certain students I have on my radar.  It is my job to help them.  In review of the data, we have 1 class that is 50% Algebra repeaters.  Meaning half the class has  failed Algebra at least once before.

I have 2 students (one in each section) that are taking Algebra for the 4th time.  We have a mantra, me and the two students "We're not going to do Algebra again next year! We are gonna be done with Algebra this year!"  I tell them this as often as possible.  I tell them, that if they stick with me, they will pass.  If they show up and try, they will be done with Algebra.  So far, 6 weeks into the school year, we are making it.  I know 6 out of 36 weeks  does not seem like much.  It is the mostly review  part of the year.  The "honeymoon" period.  I have made a very big deal about  giving them as much positive reinforcement as possible. I am the queen of  fist bumps and  high fives.  I am continually reinforcing all of the  engagement they are showing in class.  I am visiting them in ISS making sure they don't think they are forgotten.  I am sitting with them and working on homework.  I am booking a weekly appointment with them to make sure they  know they can do the work. They need a champion.  They need to  be done with Algebra.

The irony of this situation is that I have worked with both of these students outside of the classroom in the past.  I don't think we ever really got along very well because I have expectations and they did not like the pressure of those expectations.  I think that both of them probably had a nervous breakdown when  they saw my name on their schedule the first day of school.  But I think, I have proven to them I am in their corner.  Even though I had a history with both students,  I do not let that  shade my vision of them.  We are going to get through this.  Every child needs a champion. Every child needs that person who gives them high fives and fist bumps and encouragement, whether they are on their first time through algebra or their 4th time.

Anxiety

The OTES (Ohio Teacher Evaluation System) is giving me anxiety.  This is my 21st year teaching.  I'm not a teacher because I enjoy summer vacation, have weekends off, and have all those vacations and days off.  I am a teacher because at some point in my life, I felt that working with kids was my way to make the world a better place.
I blame the media for my  feeling of "optimism" about making the world a better place.

• Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror"
• Robin Williams in Dead Poet's Society as John Keating, the teacher who wanted his students to "Carpe Diem" and walk their own walk. (Oh Captain My Captain Rest in Peace)
• Bob Geldof and Live Aid (the concert across the world that raised money for Africa)
• Lean on Me ( a movie that made me want to be Joe Clark)

I think going to Catholic school  also had that impact on me as we were constantly reminded of the people who had less than we did and how just giving what we had to others would help make the world a better place.

Back to anxiety.  

OTES is the new form of teacher evaluation.  I have seen training about it make principals talk about changing their  careers.  

I'm anxious.

I think I  am a good teacher.  

I hope the state of Ohio feels the same.

Gandhi is  credited with saying "Be the change you wish to see in the world".  

Do they measure that on  standardized tests? 

I chose to be an Intervention Specialist (Special education teacher) because I love working with students who needed a little extra to learn.  

Do they measure that on standardized tests?

I fully believe that the energy you put into the universe is the energy you will get back.  If you put positive energy out there, you will get positive energy back.  Negative energy yields negative and nothing gives you nothing.

I try to put my everything into everything I do.

Do they measure that on standardized tests?

I read, re-tweeted and favorited a twitter post from a guy named Jordan Shapiro the other day: "School is about transmitting values from 1 generation to the next, not organizing labor toward productivity" (Article link) Is that measured on a standardized test?

I sat in church last week and our preacher said that it was important for us to make sure we  instilled a sense of value in the people we see in our day.  It is important to make sure that the child knows they are valued.

Is that measured on a standardized test?

Yeah...I'm having anxiety.