NOTE FROM PREVIOUS TEACHER
Dear Sara,
As a teacher for 45 years, I have experienced so much in the classroom! I hope that you care for my class as I have for the past decades. This English class can have some difficult material, but if you make it applicable to all students and make them feel that the information is worth the effort to learn, you will have a much easier time teaching, and they will truly absorb the messages from the texts. The goal is that, through your passion and your efforts to apply the information to their lives, they will change to love literature and writing!
My most important advice is this: remember that education is all about the kids. Don't get caught up in the bureaucracy of the school tasks, but instead, always focus on the children and their learning needs. Remember to keep an open mind and be flexible! This is essential in teaching.
Finally, I wanted to leave this note so that you would be encouraged to continue learning yourself. There are many students with disabilities in the classroom, and you should not only become aware of their needs, but you should provide accomodations where necessary. From an old-timer to a beginning teacher, don't forget where your passion for education comes from--it's all for the students' sake!
Much luck,
Mrs. O
Dear Mrs.O,
ReplyDeleteI have been creeping on Sara's email and notice she had an email from you! It has been a long time since I have sat in your English class. At the time, I thought you were just like every other English teacher, although I didn't know any others, and therefore take you for granted. Looking back now, I can see how lucky I was to have you. You really did care about what we learned, not just what you had to teach us to make the school happy to help us pass the SAT's. You gave us the ability and the desire to learn, not just the opportunity. Thank you so much for taking a genuine interest in your students and inspiring me to become a teacher as well. I hope that I can make my passion known to my students and make as great of an impact on them as you did on me.
Yours,
Consuela
Sadly, there is no edit button and so I cannot fix the humiliating amount of typos in my previous comment. Sigh.
Deleteyou should explore what Richard Beach has to say about dialouge journals...because that is exactly what you are doing! this is a wonderful way to dichotimize the information in the texts. if you really have time to read, check out Mikhail Bhaktin. In a nutshell, he suggests that we can't truly understand something unless we dichotimize it, which in turn makes for a stronger understanding and support of content.
ReplyDeleteAlso in a nutshell, dialogue journals are a wonderful way for students to do this. You are just playing both roles. Wonderful!