I met with my new colleagues today to begin planning out the start of the new school year. We begin school on August 7, and I am really looking forward to this new journey in my life. Before we began to get into the nitty-gritty things, we shared some information about our names with one another and our teaching philosophies. Personally, I really abhor sharing my teaching philosophy. There always seems to be this pressure to articulate it perfectly and I find it more to be like a "working document," always being modified based on my teaching experiences. Anyway, I was lucky that today's sharing time wasn't as awkward as I thought it was going to be; in fact, something that one of my colleagues said really caught my attention, and I really want to remember what he said. He briefly explained to us his personal teaching philosophy, and then began to share his thinking process with us. He explained that when he teaches, he thinks about the teachers who impacted his life and how they taught him. He described his teaching as a mixed tape, taking the "best of" and incorporating it into his own teaching style.
I love the idea of taking the "best of." If we take the time to stop and reflect, we can discover that there are so many influential teachers in our lives. So I did exactly that.
My "Best of"
2nd grade, Miss Campos who gave me the brightest smile every single morning. She made me feel as if she was the lucky one to have me in her class.
4th grade, Mrs. Liu who was creative and dynamic. She set high expectations for her students and guided us to success. We also performed some really hilarious plays in her class!
5th grade, Mrs. Underkofler who chose great class novels -- A Wrinkle In Time; From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler; The Indian in the Cupboard
7th grade, Ms. Arce always listened to what I had to say and made faith important in my life.
8th grade, Mrs. Adair who first introduced me to the wonders of learning History. I loved how she was willing to mark up our classroom maps, so we could see how the Union soldiers advanced on the Confederate Army.
High School English, Mrs. Morey helped build my confidence when it came to reading and writing. She also had a knack for putting me in my place when my "I know everything attitude" became a bit much.
High School English, Mrs. Crawford who introduced me to Mr. William Shakespeare. 'Nuff said.
High School American History, Mr. Kaufmann who told me that my charm would take me far, but working hard in school would take me even further. He sat and lectured, but his knowledge of American History made him an amazing storyteller.
College History Professor, Dr. Pierre Asselin who I am truly indebted to forever. Dr. Asselin fueled my passion for learning about the world.
College Professor, Mr. Richard Rapson believed in me and took the time to talk to me about my future and encouraged me to push myself toward greater things. A good listener, mentor, and friend.
Maybe one day I can be on someone's "Best of" list.
As I meandered through the school supply aisles at my favorite big-chain store, my eyes suddenly shifted to the rack of notebooks below as if they were magnets and "Eureka!" there it was. A fine young notebook with a stack of cassette tapes pictured on its cover! (If you read my post from a day before here, you will understand my odd excitement).
Prior to the start of the school year, my homeroom had already received the dubious distinction of being the worst-behaved class in seventh grade, maybe the entire middle school. Year after year, I see the same patterns occurring in the class placement. All the "behaviorally challenged" students are sent my way. I could either be upset about this or take it as a compliment. I choose the latter. In fact, these students are actually the very caring and compassionate to each other; they just struggle with self-control. Typical 21st century middle school students. Or any century, for that matter. .jpg)
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