May Teacher Journal: Teacher Gonna Teach Animated GIF

Year in Review

This year has been a pretty good year (at least in terms of my own professional development, what we (meaning my students and I) accomplished in the classroom, the environment we created to spend the year together, and the relationships we fostered).

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In September, I started the year with a teaching schedule that was different from any teaching schedule I had ever been handed. I taught a Middle and High School Ethics class (a first for me), and I conducted a Research and Computer-based class with Sixth Graders - that on top of my regular duties as an English Language teacher. I also worked as an inclusion teacher, helping content-area teachers break down concepts so English Language Learners can more easily digest them (and learn them). I also took on the task of editing my school's weekly newsletter (which teachers contribute to, and I put together into a beautiful, sendable PDF document). Kids also roped me into performing in a play they wrote, and my school's Model United Nations club invited me to go with them to the Model UN conference at Cornell. I also got to chaperone a Spring Break fun trip to Nantucket Island in the great state of Massachusetts. Whew. It was a whirlwind of a year.

NEH Summer Scholar at Amherst College

This Summer, I will be a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Scholar - I am joining a cohort of fifteen or so other educators for a month at Amherst College. We're going to study the concept of reward and punishment, combing through several texts of acclaimed World Literature. I am so excited! Teachers often don't get a chance to read carefully important texts; nor, do we get a chance to discuss texts with other teachers in a professional environment (outside of our own classrooms). Be sure to check back here to learn about the program. 

The Year is Not Finished (YET)

I am not entirely finished the year - YET. We still have this week and next week for classes, and then we have a week of final exams, and later a week of end-of-the-year meetings. But I can see the finish line. One of my colleagues has a countdown in her classroom. Everyone is ready for the Summer - kids included. This is the month where kids get sick of each other, call each other awful names, and get into altercations. What is it about May and kids not getting along with each other? I am sure there must be a research study on this topic.

Are you a teacher? How has your month been going? I'd love to hear what is going on with you. Leave us a message in the comments.

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