What are you passionate about with regard to learning and why?
I am passionate about so much when it comes to learning. So much, actually, that I could go on forever. First and foremost I am passionate about the feeling that I get when I learn something new. Its an excitement that has fueled me my entire life. Honestly, when it comes right down to it, I think that the entire reason I became a teacher in the first place is rooted in my love for learning. In the teaching profession it is imperative that you are a life-long learner. Things are changing so quickly all the time. The students you teach are changing yearly, daily, if not by the minute. The curriculum is changing. The expectations for any given year are changing. Your colleagues are changing. I could go on. The need for teachers to be ready to jump in with both feet and learn how to use a new strategy or technique is frequent. I love this about teaching. I love adding to my practice. I love being wrong and finding a new way to do something. A way that is completely different from the way I did it before. I try to pass this love for learning on to my students. I tell them from day one that even though I am an adult and they may think that I have all the answers, that in reality, I really do not. I want them to challenge me and respectfully critique me. I got hired as a first grade teacher 8 years ago at Shearer Elementary and for anyone who may know the school I refer to it has a reputation of being a school that has a very high Hispanic population and we also have a very high population of students who are living in poverty. Most families do not speak English in the home and most qualify for free and reduced lunch. I think it is so wonderful to be bilingual. I wish I was closer to being bilingual myself, but the climb to the top of the mountain of knowledge that must be achieved in first grade feels a lot steeper when there is a language barrier and you are not able to teach in Spanish. That being said, learning does not come easily at the school I teach at, in fact it is very very hard. If you don't really love learning and believe wholeheartedly that what you do can change the world then you wouldn't do this job. If you don't believe that every child can learn regardless of their circumstances then you would go to teach somewhere else. The fact that the climb is so hard is what makes the journey so rewarding and fullfilling to me. I think there is something pretty special about the grade that I teach as well. In first grade they come in as such little guys and gals. They are so dependent on me. I find myself calling them my little ducklings because that is kind of how they seem. By the time they leave me they are transformed. They are readers and writers. They are mathematicians and scientists. I shed happy tears each year that I say goodbye to a class because of the amazing learning that has been done.
2 Comments
Catie Goldstein
8/28/2018 08:22:08 pm
First of all kudos to you for having the patience and the heart to teach first grade. It requires a deep understanding of the "basics". Many outsiders would argue that the primary grades are easier to teach since the subject matter is at a lower level. Fortunately other educators know that this is not the case. How great is it to be in a room full of students who are experiencing reading for the first time? That being said, language presents a huge barrier for those students whose primary language may not be English. I hope that by year 8 I still have the same passion for teaching and learning as you do.
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Julia Anderson
8/29/2018 01:29:20 pm
I know that feeling of shedding happy tears! I had a rough couple of first years as well (in schools like the one you described) and it was always more of managing kids than teaching them. It is such a different experience when you actually get to teach and watch your students learn and grow. There were many times at the end of the year last year that I wanted (and may be did) tear up because of the growth my students made in presenting over the course of the year. They students become yours and they learning they do becomes so personal.
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AuthorI am a first grade teacher who is passionate about her students and learning new things! Archives
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