Pebbles

“To create more positive results in your life, replace ‘if only’ with ‘next time’.”
Author Unknown

I am happy to say that time strengthens relationships. In the beginning walking through the hallways, I was just another unknown face. Now, as I walked out of the faculty lunch room today, it was “hey Ms. P” from students as well as hello’s from other teachers, all of them addressing me by name. My favorite part was having a student tell another teacher she had fun taking part in a debate I had focused on gender and women in war. It took place after reading “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” and students had just reflected on Mary Ann’s actions in the chapter. We read articles about female soldiers in Iraq, as well as viewed clips documenting women’s service in the military. Armed with information, students were split in half: one side arguing the pro's of women in war the other side arguing the con's. Time was spent on going over the language used, and the level of voices when speaking to one another. With structure's in place, it provided suitable behavioral limits and allowed for an intriguing conversation.

I am still working on time management, it seems that every time I go to put a time on how long a discussion will take, it either runs completely short- falling on its face- or runs so over I have to cut something else out of my lesson in order to allow ample time for everyone to get a turn speak. I have made some adjustments and have gotten better when looking at where I started. But still… I’m learning.

I still need to work on my authoritative voice. This is something I have been working on since my mini-lesson back at Coventry Middle School. I had just finished telling my cooperating teacher that I would be going to the High School next to give a lesson. Her eyes went all big and round as she said, “you’re going to get eaten alive.” Well, that hasn’t happened, nor will it, but I’m still ironing out the wrinkles. I've learned small actions add up; you should be in your seats when the bell rings signaling the start of class, if not you are late. Stay in your seats until the bell rings signaling the end of class, if not they just crowd around the door=chaos. Keeping class flowing is always a major plus, dead air=play time.

All of these pebbles seem to be just that, pebbles. But when they add up, they have the ability to feel like an avalanche. It’s easy to see where the classroom can get so out of hand, to feel like I’m going to be crushed under all of that weight. But in this shifty, topsy-turve land, it feels more like these small pebbles are giving me the opportunity to climb higher…