Ten years in the trade

Ten years in the trade: my evolution.

First year – It was all I could do to survive. What happened to me was what happens to most rookie teachers – I had all the classes no one else really wanted dumped on me. I found myself teaching six sections of Comp 10. They drove me nuts, but teaching the same thing over and over helped me refine my craft. I survived, but I thought a lot about quitting.

Second year – Much better. I had different classes that broke up the monotony. I knew I could survive, so I focused on actually teaching. However, I was still stuck in the idea that I had to act like I knew so much more than my students.

Third year – frustration. I knew I could do better, but I wasn’t. I was spending too much time working. I brought hours of work home. In short, I was burning out. I found myself coasting on things I had been doing over and over for two years when I knew I should be doing something more. So I applied for grad school and was accepted.

Fourth year – grad school. I learned more about teaching and writing than I ever thought possible. Renewal and rebirth. When I left teaching high school, all I wanted was to get out. At the end of grad school, all I wanted to do was get back to it.

Fifth and sixth years – transition. I was trying to mesh the theories and ideas I encountered in grad school with the reality of high school.

Seventh and eighth – hard work. I was enjoying teaching and feeling like I was really doing a service to my kids. This was driven home by a student who met us in Walmart and said that while my Brit Lit class was really tough, he thought it was one of a handful that he had taken that would really prepare him for college.

Ninth and tenth – frustration revisited. I started blogging to vent some of my frustration. Earlier, I was frustrated with myself and how I was teaching. Now I was becoming frustrated by the lack of support in the school. Now I am trying to help shape policy to make this school what it can be – not what it settles to be. John Merrow says there are three types of schools – excellent, barely good enough, and failing. We are barely good enough. We might like to say that we are excellent, but that is not true. We can do better and should. Now I have my second go around on LEEP. Now I am co-president of our education association. Time to see how we can improve things.