Category Archive
First cry of the yearSep 25, 2008
On Friday, a handful of my 5th-grade students acted out, talked, wouldn’t listen and were horribly disrespectful. It was sad and disappointing.
Hunting for school suppliesSep 20, 2008
I don’t know if this is true of all teachers, but — I love shopping for school supplies. I always have, since the days when I was in elementary school and managed to convince my mother every year that I needed a newer, sharper, more colorful box of Crayola crayons.
A shoebox of success storiesJun 05, 2008
The final question on my second-year New York City Teaching Fellows survey had lingered around the corners of my consciousness for the entire week: “What has been your biggest success over the past two years?”
What I’ll take with meMay 22, 2008
When evaluating her first year in teaching, an educator wonders if her kids are better off because she was their teacher.
The question on everyone’s lipsMay 08, 2008
A new teacher reflects on the question that many first-year educators are asking themselves as the school year winds down.
A raisin in the sunApr 24, 2008
It was the most blissful kind of brief silence I have ever experienced in a classroom.
Uncle Sam wants my studentApr 10, 2008
Stephanie isn’t usually very academic, but today she taught me about yet another standardized test.
Q: If I worked as a para before becoming a teacher, can I get salary credit for my previous work? Do my years of service apply for pension or can I buy back those years? Also, does my anniversary date change?Mar 27, 2008
There is no provision for teachers to receive salary credit for work as a paraprofessional.
Learning from fairy talesMar 27, 2008
A teacher uses fairy tales to teach her students about their right to revise.
What teaching is really aboutMar 13, 2008
It’s no secret that there’s a major problem with teacher retention in this country.
Happy 100th day!Feb 28, 2008
I came into school on Monday loaded down with heaps of materials to aid our celebration of the 100th day of school — a crucial day in kindergarten.
How learning happensFeb 14, 2008
A new teacher feels he and his colleagues should be teaching stuff students don’t yet know, because that is how learning happens.
The verb pipeJan 31, 2008
I had a gut feeling that I would be observed again today. As it turns out, I wasn’t, but I wish I had been.
Tone is a many splendored thingJan 17, 2008
It is a 1st-grade teacher's wish that when her students leave her for 2nd grade, they will remember that in their classroom “caring was a many splendored thing.”
Boogie nounDec 06, 2007
Today I felt it for the first time. It happened in a brief, shimmering instant during my last-period 1st-grade ESL class, which is stuffed to the brim with adorable, excitable kids who cannot sit still or keep their mouths shut long enough even for me to bribe them with stickers.
Are we primitive?Nov 15, 2007
For years as a student I felt as though my own education was primitive, stifling to my creativity and failing to engage me.
Tiny victoriesOct 18, 2007
A new teacher who has had problems getting her class settled down long enough to accomplish anything has a breakthrough.
Yelling and teachingOct 04, 2007
My husband was at a loss when he came home one May afternoon and found me curled up in a ball, crying my eyes out and calling myself everything from “incompetent” to “a bad person.”
Faith rewardedSep 20, 2007
Dequan was a petite and energetic child with a beautiful, flashing smile. Despite his positive and affectionate personality, he often frustrated me: calling out, wandering the room, limbs always moving. He distracted all of us.
Entering the year with great expectationsSep 06, 2007
A teacher tells how she plans to enter her second year with a new goal in mind: to enter her classroom on day one with clear expectations — for her students as well as for herself.
When the struggles are worth itJun 07, 2007
At the conclusion of her second year of teaching, a young educator has learned that success can be measured in different ways.
Keeping my head above the waterMay 24, 2007
No matter my level of exasperation, no matter how much I’d like to close my eyes and wish my students away, my students will still be there when I open my eyes and I had better have a plan — a good plan — to get through each day without losing my mind.
Reaching JigmeMay 10, 2007
I had been told that I would be given “an easy class” for my first year to ease my transition into teaching. A child brand new to the school, country and language — this didn’t fit my definition of easy.
Learning through tripsApr 26, 2007
Some of my high school students have never left Brooklyn. This scares me. Does this mean they never will?
Seeing the big pictureApr 12, 2007
In celebration of Women’s History Month in March, the 14 girls in a new teacher's 9th-grade advisory spent the month looking at their lives though different lenses — camera lenses, to be specific.
A list of tips and tricksMar 15, 2007
A new teacher who wished someone would have informed her about what not to do and what to do when she started her job compiled some helpful hints.
Taking part in Lobby Day made union come to lifeMar 04, 2007
On Tuesday, March 13, I attended my first UFT Lobby Day in Albany. It was more than an educational experience.
Learning from parentsMar 01, 2007
During my year and a half of teaching ESL in a Brooklyn middle school, I’ve learned a great deal from the parents of my students.
Treating kids fairly — but not the sameFeb 15, 2007
A new teacher has come to realize that in order to get the results that she desires from her students, she not only need to be aware of their different learning modalities, but she also need to be familiar with their personal needs.
Show me the colorsFeb 01, 2007
Teaching in an environment with court-involved youth requires tremendous discretion.
Taking things personallyJan 18, 2007
When students are bored or they think an assignment is “dumb” or they just refuse to do any work, sometimes it’s hard not to feel personally insulted.
Home life often complicates school successDec 07, 2006
I’m pretty far into my second year of teaching, and I am so overwhelmed.
Diary of a roller coaster rideNov 16, 2006
The best analogy that I’ve heard so far about what we do for a living is this: Teaching is like a roller coaster.
Diaries: It feels good to do goodOct 19, 2006
When I began teaching 8th-grade math in a Manhattan middle school in September, my principal proposed that I bring a part of my former world into my new one.
Diaries: Less isn’t moreOct 05, 2006
Less money, fewer teachers but not fewer students! This is an equation sure to produce bad results.
Diaries: The ups and downs of job huntingSep 21, 2006
Here's an excerpted entry from the UFT blog, Edwize.org, with the views of a new teacher.
What a difference a year makesSep 07, 2006
Here's an excerpted entry from the UFT blog, Edwize.org, with the views of a new teacher.
No punches pulledOct 06, 2005
The UFT blog, Edwize (www.edwize.org), features several entries by new teachers describing some of their agonizing, baptism-by- fire experiences. Here are excerpts from two of them.
