Marcos Post
After being out of a job for a little over six years due to illness I recently started working again. Last Tuesday I began working as a sixth grade teacher in a private school here in Puerto Rico. This is my first experience as a teacher so I am learning as I go. Lesson number one is that the hours are very long. This is no regular 9 to 5 where you clock in and out and that’s the end of the workday. Here you have to take work home with you. Lesson number two is that patience is a virtue. Kids will try to see what they can get away with and keep pushing until they realize what they can and cannot get away with. Lesson number three is that rest is a luxury. The hours are very long and the rest is very short. After all, once you get out of school you have to start preparing for the next day. The reason why being a teacher is not a job most people would even consider is because it is not a mere job; it is a vocation. It is something you do because you love it.
Picture by Thomas Barwick
Ricks Response
Congratulations my friend on your new job. You are absolutely right teaching is not a job it is a vocation, a calling if you will, and you’re right, you have to love it. As time goes by your find teaching easier and easier, because you will have that experience behind you and you will have lesson plans that work and you know the ones that don’t work. Middle school is tough, don’t let anybody else tell you otherwise. However, it can also be the most rewarding, the students really want to learn but they also want to be more independent. The only advice I can give that is worked over the years in high school and middle school is the same advice a college professor gave me many years ago, is “make them believe they came up with the ideas all on their own, and you were just a guide or a helper” for example in my case many students would always come to me and tell me about a cool new program that discovered on the Mac like GarageBand, or iMovie. I would answer “ Wow, that’s interesting, tell me more about it, let’s talk more about it in class.” I would also suggest large thematic units that take a month to complete. Good luck and congratulations.
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