Back to School
Okay, I still have another two weeks before having to officially return to duty, but now that I have finished teaching summer school and entertained my parents, sister, brother and sister-in-law, as well as their two children, it is time to focus once agian on teaching.
I can say that I am feeling a sense of urgency, today, only because I realize how much I have to do. There is more than one pre-year meeting to attend--always enjoyable--and more than enough preparation. I've mentioned it before; but as I am still uneasy about it, I will mention it again. I have to teach a new grade level this year. This means yet another year of wondering if I am on the right track or if I am even getting anything valuable done. It sure will be nice to teach something more than once.
posted by Mr. McNamar @ 4:11 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
Hey Mr. McNamar,
I haven’t been here for a while! It’s good to see you’re still blogging. Anywho, after reading this I wanted to just say that I think you will do fine with the freshmen. I’m a bit surprised you chose them (and only them) and not seniors but perhaps you can teach them some things that will help them when they are seniors. When I think of my freshmen year the first thing I remember is my freshmen English teacher (your mentor teacher person?) I dreaded his class (2nd per) but I find myself using stuff from that class all the time; for instance, highlighting every other sentence for speeches, to finding my favorite book there, to watching Romeo and Juliet for the first time (The original) to learning/using new words (‘bigger’ words). So of course they’ll groan, but much like kids want their parents to set them boundaries, I think students want the same thing, or something very similar. Besides they’ll be happy that they know how to use a comma, or semicolon or just understand references to Shakespeare…and teachers behind you will probably be happy they know how to use them too (hahah). So I don’t think you will have trouble with this but just an encouraging word or two, don’t give up, don’t worry about being a little tough, cause it’s the tough teacher that a student really remembers and learns from (not extremely tough though…but then where’s the line right?)…and um…they’re only freshmen, they don’t have to learn everything in this one year, (Like you may have felt with us seniors) they’ll have three other English teachers to help improve them from where you left off (and perhaps by then you’ll want to teach seniors again). And before I end this, I wanted to say that I think you were a tough teacher who I think (for me at least) was the realization that college is going to be much harder, and the need to step up the notch on reading and writing was a must. I’m glad I had a teacher (senior year) who gave out assignments (almost in a way I think college would: “two page paper due tomorrow”). I’m glad I didn’t have a teacher who was like “You’re seniors, be free! Finger paint, you have so much school ahead of you relax!” because I think I would have drown in the water of work and been angry that I wasn’t ‘prepared’(hmm I don’t think that was a very good analogy, but I’m working on it) So anywho, don’t give up, and be (a little) tough. Good luck with your teaching!! I’ll try to stop by the pre college blog spot again soon(when my schedule allows)since you left it up for us. Take care, and have fun!!
::The Girl With The Sombrero::
P.S.
I do blog, and I try to keep the mind set of “something intelligent, not just my day” I don’t want a diary; I want something more than that. I think if I hadn’t blogged in your class I would have an online diary.
P.S.S
I hope you weren’t looking too deeply at my grammar structure, or punctuation usage.…
Thank you, Sombrero Girl, for your kind words. I do hope my year goes well!
As for you, I also wish you the greatest success. I would also encourage you to keep on blogging--anywhere in particular I might be able to follow your thoughts?
Feel free to stop by anytime. It would be nice to hear your thoughts on the educational issues I will discuss!
Mr. McNamar
Thank you! – I hope my college freshmen year isn’t quite like my high school freshman year (a struggle!) but I think I’ve grown a lot since then. So we’ll see.
Unfortunately, I have fallen victim to MySpace; which is where I do most of my blogging. Stop by if you would like, it’s for anyone out there. Many of them are set for only friends to read, just to cut down on the stalker/victim potential. But most of my…other “deeper” thoughts don’t include where I work or the name of the store or beach ect. I went to so they are public. Though now I am thinking of creating my own blog account here. I’d hate to take up the entire pre-college blog site, seeing it should be for everyone, not just me.
I’ll let you know about the new blog account. :P
Take care.
http://mb-jst-me.blogspot.com/
Yep I got one...and since you asked...
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