See Me After Class... Summer Class Reading Reflections #psuaged17

“Action without reflection is simply a waste of time.”

I have had countless mentors demonstrate and preach the importance of this. The thing is, they’re right.  Reflection makes you that person that asks 20 questions, writes sloppy journals, and the person that reads  book with a pen or a highlighter, underlining the things that stick out to reflect on later.  So here it is, my “spark-notes-I-underlined-it-for-you-version” with added reflections of course, of the book See Me After Class- Advice from Teachers by Teachers by Roxanna Elden.

My Underlines and Highlights:

“Using other teachers’ ideas showed I couldn’t think of my own. I believed I was going above and beyond doing everything myself...my pride kept my students from learning…”

Ouch.  I tend to want to do things my way, come up with new ways and add creativity to just about everything.  I don’t have to create everything from scratch.  I don’t have to recreate the wheel, and I shouldn’t.  This is where you come in- all of you experienced teachers, help us, and remind us to share and collaborate.  We have a lot to learn from you.  Working as a facilitator I have realized the importance of starting with a solid base of curriculum, then I can add and tweak, but I will cheat my students out of good curriculum by not seeking out help from those around me. So here is me accepting your help (especially yours Mr. Masser and Mrs. VanSant).

“The first day of class should be the most structured day of the year, not the most exciting.”

I don’t ever remember being scared the first day of school- I was always excited.  The 75th day on the other hand, that is a different story.  But this time I am a little anxious.  How is a first day supposed to work? How do I start in the middle of the year?  What will my students think?  What will Mr. Masser and Mrs. VanSant think? Even though they said not to worry about what they think- as long as I am working hard for the students, the first steps make me nervous.  While I agree with Ms. Elden about the structure, I am stuck in the middle. Can’t building rapport and learning names and starting with some curriculum be exciting?  How do you make it exciting?

“You became a teacher because you thought you were a certain type of person with specific things to offer your students.  There will be days this month when you aren’t so sure.”

The chapter that this quote is from talked about the “mood swings” a teacher will go through in a year, and although it is helpful to know these feelings might happen, I feel the anxiety slowly creep up as I read.  It is reality though- I may not see it yet, because I’m not there yet, but Mr. Masser reminded me sometimes teaching is less than glamorous (thanks every movie about teachers for making world think it is). It is hard, but I know it will be worth it.   Although these warnings do cause a little hesitation, I think we should be a little scared of the things that matter right? Count me in.

Your goal is not to conceal your weaknesses or disguise them as strengths.  It is to identify your true strengths and use them to reinforce potential weak spots.

What a relief!  As someone who is a believer in Gallup’s Strengths Finder results, and that has trained student leaders on using their strengths I believe putting our strengths first is important.   In fact in my one-on-one for one of my summer internships, we talked about teaching to students strengths and using our own strengths to do so.  Elden added a list in the chapter to reflect upon, I outlined the following as my strengths and weaknesses, hoping those around me will hold me accountable to growing.

Strengths: Perseverance, Good people skills, work ethic, stage presence, positive attitude

Weaknesses: Knowledge of subject matter, knowledge of neighborhood, ability to stay calm and think clearly under stress, organization

Last but not least: It’s a process.  

Teaching and learning are both long and good processes, and I am just beginning that. Elden is not alone in thinking this, it is the feeling I got from the book and from my cooperating teachers. Mr. Masser said “part of the learning process is to fail sometimes, which is hard to hear at first. Sometimes we learn more from lessons that go wrong, than from lessons that go right.” So here is to learning through the process, even if my first day fails, my weaknesses show, and on the days I just want to pretend I chose a different major. As a professor once told me... Teaching is not for the faint of heart.