3 Weeks of Not ‘Fully’ Teaching

Last week, this week, and next week only consist of 4 days for students; a fact makes planning 

easier, but what about meeting the consistent seat-time they need? Do we do enough? 

I think about several charter schools where teachers see their students everyday for 60-80 min, 

instead of my 90 min every other day. How do I fit in ‘cool’ literature and activities when there are 

so many necessary writing skills that need re-taught or refined for my student’s learning benefit?! 

Ack. 

Grading the district benchmark test on Friday did help and alarm me in its own way. Hmm… I guess I need to give lessons on paragraph indentation, apostrophes/ possessives, passive vs. active voice, 

along with the important subject of audience and purpose. Or so the internal thoughts say as I continue 

grade around 300 pages of student writing this weekend. 

I feel so blessed and privileged to have this role though, holed up on the couch reading personal 

narratives/ true stories about gang violence, cutting, teen pregnancy, divorce, immigration, 

cliques, adoption, and burned friendships. My students have made me cry, laugh, feel inspired, 

and impressed with their resiliency, maturity and reflection. Truly reading their prose is on the 

best parts of my job; to think, I get to meet and teach our society’s beautiful, creative, and 

expressive youth. 

Of course catch me in the middle of a crazy school day when those cherubs can’t stop chitchatting 

long enough to hear directions, and I might have other expressions. Also, there is writing that isn’t 

appropriate and who am I to judge if a student is acting satirical/ sarcastic instead of actually 

creepy/ evil? Do his creative writings make him the next Tim Burton (movie genius) or Ted 

Bundy? They were kids once too… Is it just a matter of too many hours playing gore-related video 

games, or is it a developmental imbalance? Yikes. 

All I can say is, God Bless parents with teenage boys, for who can understand what all goes on in their 

cognitively developing skulls? Not I… in some ways I’m not ready to know about my student’s 

personal lives. It’s hard not to feel responsible or anxious for them about things that are beyond my 

control. 

(For example, I think back to the 9th grader yelling on the phone with his girlfriend below my 

classroom window. Granted, he did not turn his conversation into me as a piece of writing, but he 

might as well have with all the detailed expression he used). 

Anyway, I have a feeling I’m going to be more involved with some of these kids than I thought… 

and that’s not a bad thing; it’s just not what I expected. No one told me that writing teachers 

became the keeper of secrets, and which ones do I have to tell and which ones are just between my 

students and me? I so don’t want to get it wrong… no wonder teacher’s have liability insurance.

Reflections on the my 2nd FULL week of teaching

Language Arts (or probably any class for that matter) shouldn’t be taught after lunch. Students might be mind-tired at 7:30 am, but sugar combined with afternoon heat makes students CRAZY-talking waiting for the bell! 

In other mess-ups this week, I assigned my 7th graders a book report asking for both a plot and a 

summary. What’s the difference? I don’t even know. Fortunately I figured out what I meant in time 

for the 8th grade classes, changing the second requirement to reaction/ opinion of the book. Why 

not? I think that’s higher level Bloom’s anyway. 

Sometimes I get scared that my students will know that I’m playing teacher. Don’t get me wrong, I 

AM A TEACHER, but all teachers, first and foremost, are learners. Generally I’m a handful of steps 

ahead of the class when it comes to knowing what’s happening next. Yes there is a year overview, 

unit objectives and all that, but NO ONE can account for the everyday hiccups, snafus, and 

possibly concussing events that make up school. Without adapting for those, it wouldn’t be 

teaching. 

Stephen King said teaching is like having jumper-cables on the brain all time, to the extent that at 

the end of the day I’m questioning myself — For example, I saw a kid skateboarding down the 

hallway after school and I had to think to myself, “Is he allowed to do that?” I couldn’t remember a 

rule saying he couldn’t and I don’t just want to nag kids when there are only a few rules, but then 

another teacher did point out the obvious and correct the student who skateboarded past me. I 

then felt very sheepish for not correcting the student myself and using better common sense to 

figure out rules that I don’t even know are rules. At the end of the day that common sense feels 

very much removed… especially when we don’t have ways of enforcing (short-shorts) dress code 

rules in stubborn heat or to catch every middle school student shoved in a locker. As teachers we 

just hear about these things and as a newbie I struggle to find ‘my middle’ or the proper response 

all the time. 

I’m okay if students don’t like me because they think my class is hard and I make them work, 

because I know eventually their pride in themselves for what they have learned and accomplished 

will cause a deeper liking than anything else. However, I’m not okay if students think I’m mean 

without reason, and I’ll admit there’s one class (that blessed Green 4) that makes me want to be 

mean! 

I know I can’t make students enemies by going on some power-trip for class control, and I don’t 

mean to, but there are so many talkers in that section I don’t even know how to separate them. Oh,and just because students correct their behavior doesn’t mean they correct their ATTITUDE!!! Each 

person controls that and while I can say “don’t yuck my yum” until I’m blue in the face, students 

have to come some maturity or realization alone. So how do I control my attitude? How do I 

inspire a better attitude in those who are watching me for a reaction? A consequence? 

“A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare. The tongue of the wise makes 

knowledge appealing (Gee, isn’t that what teachers are supposed to do), but the mouth of a fool 

belches out foolishness… Gentle words are a tree of life…”  – Proverbs 15:1,2,4 

I really like the idea of kind words or knowledge being like a tree. It’s something strong to hold 

onto, something you can climb up higher for a better perspective on the world around you. Trees 

don’t command; they invite hands to collect fruit, climb, and play in the branches to see what there 

is to see. After all it’s WORDS that inspire me to do better and be better for those around me too 

P.S. These weekly reflections are in no way ‘me being hard myself.’ That kind of reflection leads to 

depression. These mini-rants are a way for me to laugh at my mistakes and think quietly on how 

experiences can teach, shape, and encourage new efforts for the upcoming week.