Fears, Anxities, and the Goast of Classroom Future

I've been accumulating a great deal of anxiety this week. It's partially due to the fact that I have several late assignments. Most of the general anxiousness I feel comes form being utterly inundated by the academic institutions desire to educate me on how to be a good and even great teacher. I'm also aware their are state standards to implement. Then there are the more local forces of school boards and administration. Most importantly, there are my students. They are who I serve. They are who the administration work with. They are who school-boards and national committees are concerned with.* The university cares for our students and teachers and hope that shoving theory and written practice into teacher-candidates skulls will in some small way prepare them for full-time teaching.

At the center off all of this should be the student(s). Yet, I am at the center of my universe right now. I'm learning and being fed all the things which will someday produce successful students. The flood waters are high and they spin around me. Drowning me. All of these forces wish to invade my body and mind and I can't think well because of it. I know I'm in so deep right now it's hard to see a realistic path of success.

Teaching Grammar and Writing: A Beginning Teacher's Dilemma follows one teachers journey from fresh out of the program through her first year of teaching. I resonated so very much with Brandy because I truly desire my classroom to be a student-focused, student-centered place where learn happens because I can guild and facilitate and lead students to greater knowledge and skill. I fear that my own classroom will be a lot like Brandy's in the first year. I fear that my students won't be motivated and have an real reisitance to the education system. I want to be there for them in their stuggles but I also have to and want to teach them something about reading and writing.

I saw that both of my desires were possible when I met them where they were at (go figure) through Brandy's experience. Brandy found the student really responded well to the Grammar Programs. I had a similar experience with technology and teaching during Intercession. When we played a music video that related to a story we told, the students were enraptured by the screen and were silently watching for the whole time. It was magic. In the upcoming months I need to continually think of ways to expertly incorporate multimedia into my students learning. That's where they are at. That's where I need to be.


*Actually they're concerned with the students outcomes/what the students can produce and not really with the students themselves.