Is today your last school day before winter break? My last day of student teaching was the last day before winter break. Responsibility had shifted back to my mentor teacher, Mrs. M. I was winding down, or so I thought! About an hour and a half before dismissal, Mrs. M folded back the wall separating two third-grade classrooms and invited the neighboring class to join us for art. The kids, about 60 in all, were thrilled. I helped hand out supplies—we were making penguins! Then Mrs. M turned to me and said, “Ms. Badden, why don’t you guide us through the project?” Gulp! She wanted me to be in charge of 60 super-duper excited kiddos armed with scissors and glue on the afternoon before winter break? The experience turned out to be a terrific confidence booster. It pushed me to do something I would never have volunteered to do.
Everyone needs a bit of a nudge now and then. When’s the last time you were gently nudged to try something new? Please share!
Merrily,
Diane
This post kind of makes me laugh. With all the changes in our district this year, we have all been nudged out of our comfort zones. We have all new standards, new textbooks, and a totally new curriculum. If one more thing changes my head might just explode.
Strangely enough, I am one of those people who is very open to change. I feel that we need to change with the times, stay up to date on all the best teaching methods, and make sure our kids are prepared for all the changes happening in our world. It’s a cliche, but it’s true – if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. I just think that some changes need to be a little more gradual. Plus, when we make a change like going to the common core, we need to commit to it over the long haul. Start it in kindergarten and first grade add a grade or two each year until it’s fully implemented. Then stick with it and give it time to work. We need to teach the common core for at least 10 years until we are going to know how effective it is. However, I fear that legislators will see test scores go down due to the rigor required of the students and they will jump ship before we have a chance to really improve education with these standards. I really, really hope I’m wrong about that.
I have to agree with Liz. We too have had countless changes in the past few years in teaching. My last day was today and boy am I looking forward to some down time. My kiddos are wonderful and I have so much fun with them but I am tired.