Musings on middle school

Now that I've finished my third teaching video this semester, I actually think that I cringe a little less while looking at myself teaching.  It's not that I've fixed all of my weird tics and hand motions.  No, a lot of that seems almost out of my control.  I think I've just become more comfortable with who I am (on a computer level, anyway).  Unless I do heavy duty editing work, I'm going to say "cool" and "sooo" a lot.  I'm also going to have a double chin from certain angles.  No fixing that one.  But the part that I've actually enjoyed watching is my interactions with students, especially on a one-on-one basis.  It's hard to know whether or not you actually had a connection with a student when it's just one-sided.  But when you view those interactions and get to observe the student's body language as well, it affirms your sense of, "well, that didn't go so badly!"  And for me, that's a positive thing.

I'm teaching a few more times in the upcoming week, and then I'll be done for the semester.  I've really enjoyed getting to know the eighth graders because I really feel like they let me in on their lives a little more than my students last semester.  Also, they're at an interesting point in their lives: still in middle school, so they let their guards down every once in a while, but they're mature enough to understand important topics and the implications of some big ideas.  They will all gather around their teacher when she starts reading a picture book out loud in the library, and they'll write poems about struggling with sexuality.  It's been a really positive experience, and I hope that they don't lose their sense of wonder and community that they've built in middle school.  It'll be interesting how they'll react to more freedom.

I've also started my year-long plan this week, which was more complicated than I thought it'd be.  I mean, there's so many things that I want to accomplish in a year's time, but there's just so many interruptions and shorter weeks and grading periods that also have to be woven into your plans.  I could see myself taking several weeks to go ahead and plan a lot of this stuff before the year starts because there's so much to take care of, especially at the beginning of the year.  I was also thinking about all of the additional responsibilities that teachers naturally take on.  My CT is the head of her department, and she pretty much is in a meeting or has to lead a meeting every single morning.  Then, obviously, she has to follow up on those meetings and take care of whatever business is necessary.  With that duty on top of teaching, when do you ever have time??  She's played hooky a couple of times this semester, and I actually think that's refreshing--sometimes, you just have to take a day to yourself to unwind and take a few steps back.  I'm looking forward to that time...we do have a couple of weeks in May, right?  :)