Two of my students admiring the view at a pit stop on the drive into Lillooet.
A voice mail from my mother reminded me that I have shared little about my actual teaching experiences on this blog. "I thought I would meddle a little," she said in minute two of her exaggeratedly long message, "because people really love your blog but you don't really tell us about how your teaching is going." Right-o Mom. Got it.
I suppose I've kept my teaching practice off the blogging grid because I have felt like I am floundering around just trying to find my footing all year. Actually I have felt like I have been drowning in a sea angry with storm. Luckily people have periodically thrown my buoys here and there, just enough to keep me afloat, thank goodness, and here I still am, treading water! Apparently this somewhat violent, anxiety-producing experience is normal for the first few years, until you either start to feel more comfortable with wobbling on sea legs all the time, or you give up the profession altogether. Teaching has one of the highest drop-out rates of any profession, and I can see why; it's a tough job, and even if you work yourself to the bone there is always more to do. According to this guy, the teacher attrition rate in the first few years can be as high as 40 %. That means 4 out of 10 new teachers look for work outside of teaching before they finish their first few years on the job. That's because it's hard not to take on the world with this job, but slowly I am finding a balance and am starting to enjoy the swim.
Yes, at times I have felt encased in a pressure cooker out here, perhaps especially out here where I am on my own in the school doing a job that is new while also trying to adapt the activities for four different grade levels. But, I have survived, and with spring and fresh warm weather I am super excited for the time that I have left at this job.
We are up to five students now: one grade 2, a grade 5 and a grade 6, and two grade 7s. Life is good, because they are finishing off their social studies unit where they researched countries relating to the learning outcomes required for their respective grades, and on April 25 we will host an international luncheon for the community with dishes made by the kids representing fare from the countries they have researched. Then in the afternoon we will be dazzled by their brilliant PowerPoint presentations, complete with custom animations and eye-popping visual effects (but not too many though, because they don't want to distract their audience from their eloquently witty and intelligent remarks, of course).
Finishing off one unit means we get to start another: science, a unit on local ecosystems and habitat preservation. YAY!!!!! My favourite stuff! On Thursday afternoons from now until the first week in May we head into Lillooet for morning swimming lessons, and in the afternoons we are working on an outdoor education program with members of the Lillooet Naturalist Society. This week we learned about spawning habitat and aquatic insects. Super cool stuff!
A preschooler getting a good look at a bug.
A big, juicy mayfly.
A Coho fry.
And, if you were one of the lucky ones who actually read all the way to the end of this blog, I am happy to announce that I FINALLY created a blog for my school. Look for the link on the right hand side of this blog page, or click here to be redirected to it. Exciting stuff :) On Monday I'm going to get the kids to create their own blog which they will update and maintain with my supervision, but this one I created today is to inform families and anyone who is interested in hearing what we are up to.
I've been working in the school all day so now it's time to get outside and start cleaning up my yard now that the snow has passed.
No comments:
Post a Comment