Just News

I can't believe I've been teaching for a whole semester. I was soooo nervous when I first began this venture some four months ago. I wasn't sure if teaching was indeed the profession for me. After making irreplacable bonds with students and a very few select colleagues, witnessing students make small, but significant academic gains, resolving conflicts with students who have behavior issues, personally mentoring some female students, and having not-so-good days, but still just as eager to return the next day, I am absolutely, positively sure that I have chosen the right profession.

During the first semester we studied Poetry, Dictionary Skills, Literature Circles, Letter Writing, and Main Idea. Towards the end of the quarter, students completed a poster project in which they had to choose one of the units we studied, create a poster with all the elements they learned, and teach it to me as if I'm the student. I even called the students by their last names and allowed them to call me Ashley. They had to get comfortable with teaching and me impersonating them. I was quite pleased with the results. Students were very comfortable after a while. We're still finishing up the posters, but we will be done by Friday.

After that, we're going to implement an intense 6 part Vocabulary Strategy into our regular curriculumn. I am overwhelmingly excited.