Once upon a time there was a teacher. This teacher had been teaching for 17 years, and often looked in the mirror and wondered where the time went. She could easily remember her first year of teaching and about the last five years, but those years in the middle are a bit fuzzy. But one thing is for sure, kids are kids. Even though curriculum changes, methods change, styles can change, technology changes....the kids......they remain the same. Some are so talkative, some so shy, some so serious, some so funny, some so tardy, some here so early, some who get your jokes, some who don't get any of them, some who take everything you say so seriously, some who don't listen to anything you say, some who want to be just like you, some who probably have nightmares about you, some who turn in homework early, some who will never turn in any homework, some who look like they are not listening, but really are. Anyways you get my point, the one thing I can count on in this profession is the kids. They will show up everyday to spend the day with me and it is my job to make that day the best possible with a lot of learning going on.
Since I currently teach 3rd grade, the big thing right now is to learn those darn multiplication facts. Gone are the days of drill, drill, drill. Here are the days of theory, and how do you get to the answer of the problem. I'm trying to get them to WANT to know these facts within a second or two, but getting them to want is the hard part. Either way you never give up!
I will end this post with an experience I had today. One of my students got hurt during art class and he lost his band-aid during recess. So after recess he asked me for another one. I looked at his hand and the spot that needed to be cleaned. I got out an antiseptic wipe and started cleaning it. He slowly raised his head to look up at me, I glance at his face. His expression is one of almost panic, big eyes...and he slowly says to me (I have paused wiping the spot, with the wipe still on it) "That's not alcohol is it?"
