I am not sure why I am starting this blog- I have some nebulous ideas of why, but I think I will form a purpose an direction as I continue on. Basically I want to record my second year of teaching art so I can more effectively reflect on my experiences. I am also hoping to reach out to educators and artists who relate to the issues and thoughts I am having. At the same time, I don't want to limit this to just my working life.
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I just came home from a Professional Development Day. I feel the way I always feel after these kind of events- extremely motivated.
I think it has less to do with the content of these PD Days, and more to do with the time given to reflect about how to teach better as a whole (on a school level, or a personal level) While I am constantly thinking about how to teach my courses better and how to reach my students more effectively, I rarely think on a larger scale--- I feel like I don't have the space in my life to. Or maybe its that I am constantly dealing the smaller daily details of the job that I don't think to ask the bigger questions.
Which is why I rushed to create this blog as soon as I got home-- before getting into comfortable clothes, and even before getting a snack. (I'm sooo hungry)I didn't want to lose all my motivating thoughts to the weekend tide of relaxation. Here they are:
I want to write an official curriculum for my classes, complete with typed and organized lesson plans.--- Yes this is a requirement that I as a second year teacher I am behind on, but the point is I'm really looking forward to it. I'm afraid that this, and many things on this list will either become a burden or get left behind as I deal with the daily duties of teaching.
I want to be prepared for the coming week- for both classes and clubs.
I want to start advocating for a system that would help teachers collaborate/learn/reflect better at our school. As apart of the PD activities we read a really interesting and relevant article about teenagers coming to terms with their racial identity. I was thinking about how useful the article was, and how I wish I had the time to keep up with these type of articles and books. Not just twice a year, but weekly. I feel like there is so much more for me to understand about this profession. I know that a lot of this knowledge will come with experience, but I feel like the process is too slow. If there was space and time within the structure of this job to reflect I feel like all teachers would be able to learn from their daily experiences more effectively. I had dreamlike vision of having one of my courses replaced with a teacher learning course- something that had a curriculum to help us stay on track with our professional development (It could include reading and reflecting on articles such as the one I read today, cross curriculum projects with follow teachers, journaling about issues in teaching, research about our own content areas, connecting our personal development within our content areas to the classroom) When I was dreaming this up, I assumed it was a pipe dream... something that could never happen based on the current school climate and budget issues. But apparently a lot of schools have similar ideas already implemented. If I can I want to be apart of the movement to bring this to our school.
I want to get this service learning project idea off the ground and actually make a valuable connection between my students and veterans.
I want to hang out with my friends and cultivate relationships with them.
I want to talk with other teachers. A lot more.
I want to take off my shoes, clean my room, draw my dreams, cook some dinner (I have the makings of Stromboli-but do I have the energy/patience?), chill the heck out and stop thinking about school and teaching and best practice.
Okay---Now go!
Just Kidding- I'm going to start with getting my shoes off, and a snack. Hopefully getting comfortable will not disintegrate my motivation.
