Loving My Job

The perfect teaching job is where the students want to be in class, they pay attention and they do their work because they want to and they enjoy it.  I thought that job did not exist at the high school level.  Gifted came close on occasion, but for the most part, the kids didn't want to be there, didn't know why they had to take the class and so often it would drag the day down...

TLS is different.  My kids are excited to be here.  They check with each other about who has done their homework.  They encourage each other and they have lots to talk about.  Nothings perfect, but I gotta say, it's awesome to love my job this much.  :)

Another teacher in Ava, MO, told me,  

Our kids are LOVING it!  Seriously, they can’t wait to come in and find out what we’re doing.  It’s fantastic to see them so excited.  They even know they’re learning, and they still like it.  Weird.  They’re really “getting” the information, too.  [The other teacher] and I are thrilled!  We do a multiple choice assessment test every six weeks, and the last one was about two weeks ago.  Their scores were significantly better than they had been.  Yay!!!

She went on to say,

[The other teacher] made the comment yesterday (to another teacher) that she’s “actually excited to teach her English I classes.”  I had to laugh; it’s easy to get burned out when so many freshmen don’t seem to get what we need them to.

I found out this weekend that I have been invited/accepted to present at the Georgia Council of Teachers of English annual conference in February and I have decided to apply to present at PCA (Popular Culture Association) for their annual conference in April (in Boston!)  I will post about my adventures at NCTE tomorrow.  I am too busy enjoying my job to get to it today.