"Growth Mindset": this is a term that has been said from one principal to a teacher and from a teacher to a 6th grade student. It's not until that term was used by the 6th grade to student to me, a teacher, that the meaning started to sink in to me, though.
"Don't beat yourself up.": funny how the simplest pieces of advice/cliches from the teachers I respect so much can have such a deep impact on me. OK, sir. I will not beat myself up... and thank you for catching that, because I did not realize that I was.
Other things I gotta remember:
-I am doing what I always wanted to do. Throughout college and grad school, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I was striving for it. Now, I am a teacher in Oakland. In fact, I'm a science teacher to 6th and 8th grade in an Oakland charter school. This is exactly what I wanted, and I got it. All of the hard stuff -- the back talking, the acting out, keeping up with parents and meetings, keeping up with my students -- this is what I signed up for.
-Another thing about the hard stuff: it is exactly what it should be. Things are not "particularly" hard for reasons xyz and I am not a particularly bad teacher. The hard stuff is exactly where it's supposed to be for a first year teacher.
-Classes are 1 hour long. I will continue chipping away at just a few successful minutes at a time for each day.
No comments:
Post a Comment