Day 10: Migraine is the word of the day... but just don't say it too loudly because it hurts...
Started the day with a mild headache - took hubby's car instead of my van, I had no sunglasses (they are in the van) so the sun aggravated the whole thing.
Once at school, I had the adrenaline to keep me going - Tuesdays are the roughest day with 7 teaching periods in a row. Non-stop teaching.
I used to love being on the receiving end - but being the one who is up there DOING the teaching is a whole different ballgame. You need to be alert all the time, you can't let your mind wander off to a better place, not even for a minute, because then your mouth will start uttering stupid unrelated things - and the last thing any teacher needs is to fuel the kids' restlessness and gossip channels (like "Oh my God, she's quite the looney!").
I feel like I'm different from the other teachers. I don't approach the classes the way the others do, and even though I feel like I'm doing fine and that the girls are learning, I'm also very aware that I have no FORMAL knowledge of how their brains assimilate knowledge and how knowledge should really be dispensed.
I'm one of those "Show and Tell" teachers - I've never had one while I was in school so I have no idea where this is coming from. Perhaps I should rephrase that to "I'm THE Show and Tell" teacher. For biology, I walk around with food wrapping and the nutritional information of McDonald's, Subway, Wendy's and Tim Hortons. I have them make up healthy menus at these places, count grams of sodium. I waive women's magazines around to steer them away from fad diets (anyone ever notice there is always an incredible diet that can make you lose 10 lbs in 3 days and yet America is getting fatter every day!). I want them to be critical and skeptical about all the info thrown at them. Other teachers in the teacher's room look at all these things on my desk - some ask me what subjects I'm teaching - I must admit that Woman's Day is not exactly a typical 9th grader textbook...
Today, in our technology class, we watched short movies that explain electricity and atoms. I also had some Power Point presentations from the previous teacher. As I was lugging all this equipment from classroom to classroom, the computer/projector cart AND the TV/DVD cart, I was wondering how many other teachers rely on this type of media to convey information. I'll be keeping an eye out on the other teachers walking around with the video equipment...
My migraine is slowly subsiding - the house is in shambles, I just now (8:00PM) got all three kids in bed (hubby is out helping my dad with something) and tomorrow's lunches are not made yet.
I sometimes wonder what life would be like without the chaos kids create - for a short moment, I imagine a clean house, a floor that shines instead of being littered with the day's toys and meal crumbs, and evenings that start at 5PM when I get home (instead of after 8PM when they are finally in bed). That being said, I would not trade my life and my kids for anything (well, make me an offer and we'll talk - I can even throw in the hubby if the price is right!).
Once at school, I had the adrenaline to keep me going - Tuesdays are the roughest day with 7 teaching periods in a row. Non-stop teaching.
I used to love being on the receiving end - but being the one who is up there DOING the teaching is a whole different ballgame. You need to be alert all the time, you can't let your mind wander off to a better place, not even for a minute, because then your mouth will start uttering stupid unrelated things - and the last thing any teacher needs is to fuel the kids' restlessness and gossip channels (like "Oh my God, she's quite the looney!").
I feel like I'm different from the other teachers. I don't approach the classes the way the others do, and even though I feel like I'm doing fine and that the girls are learning, I'm also very aware that I have no FORMAL knowledge of how their brains assimilate knowledge and how knowledge should really be dispensed.
I'm one of those "Show and Tell" teachers - I've never had one while I was in school so I have no idea where this is coming from. Perhaps I should rephrase that to "I'm THE Show and Tell" teacher. For biology, I walk around with food wrapping and the nutritional information of McDonald's, Subway, Wendy's and Tim Hortons. I have them make up healthy menus at these places, count grams of sodium. I waive women's magazines around to steer them away from fad diets (anyone ever notice there is always an incredible diet that can make you lose 10 lbs in 3 days and yet America is getting fatter every day!). I want them to be critical and skeptical about all the info thrown at them. Other teachers in the teacher's room look at all these things on my desk - some ask me what subjects I'm teaching - I must admit that Woman's Day is not exactly a typical 9th grader textbook...
Today, in our technology class, we watched short movies that explain electricity and atoms. I also had some Power Point presentations from the previous teacher. As I was lugging all this equipment from classroom to classroom, the computer/projector cart AND the TV/DVD cart, I was wondering how many other teachers rely on this type of media to convey information. I'll be keeping an eye out on the other teachers walking around with the video equipment...
My migraine is slowly subsiding - the house is in shambles, I just now (8:00PM) got all three kids in bed (hubby is out helping my dad with something) and tomorrow's lunches are not made yet.
I sometimes wonder what life would be like without the chaos kids create - for a short moment, I imagine a clean house, a floor that shines instead of being littered with the day's toys and meal crumbs, and evenings that start at 5PM when I get home (instead of after 8PM when they are finally in bed). That being said, I would not trade my life and my kids for anything (well, make me an offer and we'll talk - I can even throw in the hubby if the price is right!).
