Thursday, July 24, 2008

Dream Teacher

What would your dream teacher look like? If you could have anything in a public school teacher for your child what would you want? What things have you loved, what have you hated? What would you look for in the classroom, homework, academics, etc.?

I was hired today to teach 3rd grade at the school where I worked last year. I have a lot of the same feelings I had when I opened my mission call to see the Lord was sending me to Chile and I had 6 weeks to learn Spanish. I keep telling myself to breathe, it will be o.k. It just feels like such a huge responsibility. Homeschooling was one thing - it was my own kid. But this, this is very overwhelming. 20+ kids - how do I not mess up at least one of them?

So, I am not above groveling. Please, please, please leave my your best advice via comments, email, phone, letter, or carrier pigeon. And thank you!

5 comments:

Meghan said...

Okay, you asked for it, I just sent you a HUGE email. You are going to do great.

Anonymous said...

I think just the fact that you want to do what's best will drive you to do what's best.

I know that you have to teach by the school's standard, but for some ideas you could check out some common online Spanish translation. It will show you come of the most common phrases that you'll hear natives use. This is great for students to start hearing what's real. It also has some printable grammar worksheets.

They update it a lot, so you can always find new ones to use.

Teebee said...

Well my first advise for you (and I feel very qualified to give it seeing I was the last person in school in this family) is to not be their friend. I am not saying to be mean to them but just realize like a parent you can show them you care for them but you have to remain in charge with rules they have to live by. My other advise for you is to have a gimmick. One of the thinks I remember most about the teachers I had at that age was their gimmicks. Ms. Moore had the row boat with pillows we could go sit in to read if we had finished out assignments. Mrs. Cooper gave out peanuts in the shell for accomplishments. So I would strongly recommend a gimmick. Anyway that is all I can think of for now good luck!!

Sara said...

I don't know enough to give you any advice but here is what I remember from 3rd grade...

Mrs. Moore was my 3rd grade teacher. Like Tracy, I remember a boat filled with pillows in the classroom. Two people got to sit in it during reading time. I also remember learning all about the planets and we made planets to decorate one wall of the classroom.

I remember once during creative writing time I need to know how to spell "ex" as in ex-husband. I knew it was more than just an x but I could not remember. I went up and whispered in her ear what I needed to spell and she wrote an "x" on my paper. So I turned it in with x-husband. Of course when I got it back she marked me down for the spelling error. I was SO mad!

Hope that helps! :D

Regina said...

I loved my teachers who weren't afraid to be spontaneous. Sometimes, the kids just need something different. Be happy. Be cheerful. You never know what is going on in a kids life at home, let school be a cheerful environment where somebody thinks kids are great. Good Luck, I hope this is fantastic for you!!

Regina from LDFR

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