Teaching Journal Issue 1

I have to say it feels very strange to be in a classroom again as the last classes I physically attended were back in the early 80’s. I have of course taken college credit courses since receiving my BS but they were all online which is a different experience. My family has had more than a laugh or two knowing that soon this will be full time with comments like “are you pledging a fraternity?” This is all so exciting and yet I would be lying if I did not say scary as well. While I have been actively in the classroom since September in a supporting role to the teacher as an Para educator, it’s another thing being the sole body in front of those faces. I have a high degree of confidence in my ability to be everything I envision as an educator but I know there are surprises down the road as my instructors will point out and ask us to ponder.

I wonder how my particular style will develop? Will the one I envision be suitable in a classroom environment? I found my style as a corporate manager to be very successful as I climbed the ladder from a very humble warehouse forklift operator to Director of Operations for a 100 million dollar company. Certainly, I have identified with the styles and effectiveness of the classroom teachers I have been able to observe in the grades (K-3) I hope to teach one day. Some are so totally different and seem to be effective in their own way to varying degrees of success. I was surprised to see that the teachers with calmest demeanors and voices seem to have better control of the classroom. So many questions I hope will be answered but I know as Ayers says, most of your education will come in doing which is not much different than the corporate world. Theories are merely that and often times do not stand up to the test of real world problem solving and interaction. So far Jane and Jean have made good choices in their book selections. Hopefully the Oakes book will come around but I can understand its rather dry textbook approach. I do like that many of the teachers we have been introduced to are 1^st year teachers, and it should prove interesting to see how they will grow and how their expectations play out. I have not read that far in advance to see if we continue to follow them through.

I am looking forward to attending the school board meeting and with probably nearly every school district suffering along with the economy it will prove interesting to see where cuts are made. I have played catch-up for the past two weeks. That’s why I am indeed late with this 1^st stab at journal entry for the classes. I underestimated my Biology courses time requirements, but have caught up and will try to use my time management skills better in the future. Another student started a thread on the Perlstein book, which I commented on and should be another vehicle for interaction with my peers. All and all, I think our cohort represents a nice mix of individuals from some diverse backgrounds as much as I can gather from the introductions. I thought I would be the only “old one” in the class when I heard I was accepted and was pleased that we have some other student that are around my age. When you add that with the recent graduates or soon to be ones and the parent now experiencing the “empty nest”, you have a nice representative mix of generational experiences, which is nice.