Teaching
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Teaching Positive Self-Talk
A new She Said, He Said post is coming next week. Eric needed some time off. He told me writing was hard work. I said, “Welcome to my world.” He said, “I hate your world.” I laughed. Anyway, he agreed to at least two more She Said, He Said posts. The first will be next week. I’m keeping the topic a surprise.
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Life Lessons From Students
Cheers and jeers erupted throughout the classroom as I read the last two pages of MYSTIC. My emotions were running deep. It had been a long time since I read the ending of my own book. Surprised at my reaction and theirs, happy they were emotionally invested in the story and had opinions on the ending, and teary because the ending…the theme…is about self acceptance and the story hits close to home. I opened up a discussion on why MYSTIC ends as it does, trying to get them to see deeper into the story. This particular class was a high energy class. A mixture of 6th through eighth graders; the most challenging class…
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Classroom Inclusion
Part 2 of my Goodbye to Teaching post. My thoughts on inclusion. I’ve been to many different classrooms in many different schools as a sub for the last five years. I was an elementary teacher for five years before that. I believe in classroom inclusion. I don’t even like ability ranking. I think we should tell students what they’re capable of instead of what they’re not capable of. Multiple Intelligence classrooms help students understand their own unique way of learning. As one student said to me, “We’re all smart in our own way. Right, Ms. Rausin?” Right. When I taught elementary there were some teachers who did not welcome students who were in an isolated ESE room…
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Saying Goodbye to Teaching
My time teaching is coming to an end. One more week and then my mornings will be spent editing my YA (Young Adult) novel, getting it ready for an editor’s eye. How lucky was I to get to read Mystic to 6th graders for the past seven weeks? Little did I know how much stress it would cause. Every time one of the students asked, “Are we reading Mystic today?” I would hold my breath and hope for a positive response. So far so good. I haven’t received any sighs or jeers. Perhaps they’re savvy enough not to hurt my feelings. I will miss all the, “Hi, Ms. Rausin’s” and even the hugs. I’m more…
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Bad Teacher or Bad Parent
I was perusing Facebook when I found this post: 6 Telling Signs Your Child Has a Bad Teacher I became immediately annoyed. Really? If your child’s bored or disinterested with school, let’s blame it on the teacher? No. That’s not taking responsibility for your child’s education. That’s a blame game. Imagine spending hours on the weekend preparing lessons you’re excited to share in the classroom. You’re standing in front of the room, ready to teach your incredible lesson, and eighty percent of the class is sitting, listening, ready to begin. Just as the other twenty percent settle down, a student lets one rip, sending the class into hysterics and four of his teammates up…
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Classroom Catharsis
I stood in front of the first class of the day, a student’s journal in hand. Since I began teaching 6th grade, I’ve had the students write for ten minutes on any subject they want. Some write stories, others write about what’s happening in their life. Some enjoy getting up in front of class and reading and others ask me to read for them. Sharing is completely optional. I read the first line of her journal out loud. I stopped. I read the rest silently making sure it was appropriate to share with the class. It was…but how was I going to get through it? Exhaustion had caught up to me, knocking down…
