Not Your Average Teacher

New beginnings

// April 28th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Comments

It’s easy to begin to feel nostalgic towards the end of a season, year, career, etc. I know many people graduating in the upcoming weeks, and I urge you all to take time and celebrate how far you’ve come and how hard you’ve worked to achieve this triumph. For me, it was easy to overlook my accomplishments because it seemed like everyone around me was doing the same thing. It was the satus quo. Only 1/3 have a college degree in the United States. The majority of adults in this country have no idea what it feels like to walk across a stage and shake the hand of a Dean. Celebrate your progress. Take a moment to forget about deadlines, car troubles, family issues, and errands to explore your own personal and professional growth. If you are not graduating yet, think about the steps you’ve made in the last year. How have you changed? How have you grown? These things mean more than any grade on a paper or a degree in a leather binding.
If you are currently teaching- Thank you! You are changing the lives of students every day, and in the face of a lot of adversity around, you continue to meet objectives and obstacles presented to you. It’s true this is only my first year teaching, and I feel I have a tremendous amount of growing to do, but I know my decision to teach and to be in schools is the right one.
I am counting the days, don’t believe I’m not, but I am trying to make the most of the last few days because I am realizing what it means to move on to another class of students. I am already remembering back to our first days together and how our relationships have evolved. No, not all were for the best, but they all changed and adapted. We all grew. I’m off to teach, but I might add some more later. Feel free to comment with your own accomplishments below. Feel selfish for a moment.

Running into an old friend

// January 13th, 2010 // 7 Comments » // Comments

I have taken this place for granted…and have been under appreciating it’s abilities. It’s like that friend you run into after years apart-It’s hard to remember how you fell out of touch in the first place. The fact is relationships take a lot of work to keep strong. I have survived my first semester as a teacher, and I’m loving it (almost) every day
I need to now turn back and begin reflecting on how I made it to this point. There are a few student teachers running around the halls today for their first days of their last semester in college. I wish all of you out there in the same boat good luck. Teaching is truly worth everything you put into it. Congratulations, and I hope to be back again to start/join the conversations more in the very near future. Sorry I was away for so long.

Calm b4 the storm

// January 10th, 2009 // No Comments » // Comments

The storm that is student teaching is a-brewing, and all of us main contributers here at NYAT are all entering student teaching starting Monday.  I, Jarred, am super excited and nervous to start, but I am hopeful the semester will be full of learning, frustrations, successes, failures, and many new experiences.  There has been a little lull of sorts on the site, and we all needed that break time to sort out our own thoughts and schedules.  Be ready for our second semester of podcasts and posts, and be sure to continue reading our own personal partitions.  We still have about 499 GB of server space for others to join the community in just about any capacity.  We want you to join us in our lifestream of ideas related to teaching.  We hope the start of the new year has been productive for all and we wish you the best throughout the next semester and beyond.

Jarred

Optimism Abound

// August 26th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Comments

There is just something about the first day/week of school that gets me excited.  During my first class we were asked to sit outside and observe/write about our surroundings.  I noticed the brand new notebooks that still had crisp edges, backbacks FULL of books, maps in the hands of new students, and and the optimistic smile worn by the vast majority of the population.  The sun was shining, many had new shoes, and people seemed excited to be going somewhere-anywhere.  The first week of classes often means students are ready to be engaged by classmates and by teachers, and they are generally excited to learn.  I believe this to be true because I am a learner and a student.  As boring as the first day of class can be, it can also set the tone for the rest of the year.  This does not mean we only get one shot to “grab” students, but it does mean we have the opportunity to provide the positive springboard that can feed off the positive energy throughout the year.

How does one do this?  Well I don’t have a formula, and I haven’t had the opportunity to teach in a “first day” situation, but I know I need to be myself, and I know I must keep students active and engaged as early as the first day.  We allow students to become passive as early as the first day.  We lecture and lay guidelines, and set requirements, and we squish the energy right out of them.  It is painful to be a part of.  The newness always rubs off, but I am totally subscribing to the idea that teachers need to set the stage to expect production and energy from students as early as the first day.  Optimism of a new semester and a new class should be a powerful resource teachers use to provide momentum into the course work.  I can’t stand leaving a class feeling the first class blues.  It is negative for everyone involved.

So I want to know what you have done to capture momentum on the first day, and how did that help set the “mood” of that class for the rest of the year?  What about some horror stories?  How did you recover from a bad first day with unmotivated students?  How do we keep the energy flowing? Can we?  I am optimistic we can, but it is the first day.

Dealing With Loss

// August 8th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // Comments

On July 26th, Chris Lantz was killed in a car accident.  Alcohol was involved, and Chris was not wearing his seat belt.  Chris had graduated from Bennington High School (Bennington, NE) last May, and was attending University of Nebraska-Kearney.  This is my (Jarred’s) Alma Mater and I knew Chris and had seen his parents at many events.  I still have two siblings attending the High School, as well.  To make matters worse, this is the third automobile accident to claim the life of recent or current Bennington students within the last three years.

It has taken me this long to be able to write about this tragic accident, and my prayers still go out to Chris’s family and the community.  As unfortunate as this event was, it happens all over the country every year, and educators and counselors often have to deal with unforeseen issues with their students.  In a smaller community like Bennington, events like this shake the whole community.  Teachers, coaches, and community members all have to deal with their own emotions while still being a mentor for students.  It’s tough.

Teachers and students need to lean on each other for support, and time should be taken to grieve.  Catharsis is a powerful tool towards closure, and everyone needs to have their grieving time.  I would certainly allow students time to free write about this event or anything they feel they need to write about.  This would be an excellent time to use journals where the teacher only reads the work if the student wants him/her to do so.  I understand we won’t overcome this in a day or a week, but students need to return to “normalcy” as soon as possible to understand life will go on.  Each student and case varies, but we need to treat each case with the same amount of respect and careful consideration.  Every student matters, no matter if he/she was the class president, captain of a sports team, or if the student was one absence from getting kicked out.  It is always one more life cut short of reaching full potential.  We need to learn from these issues, not sweep them under the rug.

Our students are people, and so are our administrators and teachers.  I would like to hear about some examples of school guidelines or plans of action that are in place when it comes to death of someone within the school-be it teachers, cook staff, janitors, administrators, coaches, students, etc.  Share your story, and let me know what it is like to be on the other side of the “desk”, if you will.

This is another topic for another day, but how can we stop students from feeling invincible?  Too many good people are taken because of poor decisions.  I am having a hard time dealing with this one.  I know the teachers and counselors at Bennington, and I think they do a phenomenal job working with students, but how can we bring down the frequency of teenage-alcohol related accidents?

Inspiration

// July 1st, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Comments

Hey everyone, I am in need of some inspirational stories from real teachers.  I just watched the movie Freedom Writers in my multicultural Education class, and I want to find some actual stories like this in real classroom situations.  I don’t expect the same drama or gravity of that movie, but I know there are plenty of teachers out there that have climbed tall mountains and have produced meaningful student artifacts and experiences.  Share them with us!

Jarred

Intro classes

// May 19th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Comments

Okay, here is a question for all you great educators out there. My girlfriend just called to tell me how bored she was in her first day of a graphic design summer class. Her main “beef” was that the professor spent most of the class [of a seven hour class] explaining the differences between pc’s and mac’s. She felt most of these students knew the material, and that it was a waste of her time. Now I know she was frustrated, and that she probably learned SOMETHING throughout the lecture, but what can teachers do to get students up to speed without halting or “boring” the advanced students on the first day. I worry that this sour first impression can have negative effects on students throughout the first few weeks.

Any suggestions on how to better service all students, or is this time necessary for all students regardless of level?

Thanks, Jarred

We Are Family

// May 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // Comments

Hey Everyone! As I sit here this morning, thinking about Dale biking/camping through South Dakota, I wonder about how this site will change in the next six months. Our goal is to keep producing quality podcasts with interesting people that pose necessary questions. I hope we are accomplishing this thus far! We have been excited to see so many people commenting and emailing us about our progress, and we really want our listeners/visitors to get more involved. This site is not designed to be a show-and-tell. This is to be a community for us all to gather and share ideas, questions, and solutions. Don’t be afraid to send us your ideas and opinions-We want them all.

With summer coming up, it should be a great time for us all to get a little R&R, but please don’t stop contributing to the site. We are still working on our connection with iTunes, so please subscribe to the podcast, and don’t be afraid to call our listener line and leave a voice message that we can incorporate into future podcasts. Your content will help us make the site more useful for everyone.

As always, have a great day and thanks for contributing.