Pinch the Pillow

I've been told my whole life that I write funny.  Ok, not write funny but that I hold a pencil funny.  I've also been told that I hold a fork funny and tie my shoes funny.  What's the point?  Even though I've been told that I do all of these things "funny" I am still able to complete the task.  The end result is the same.  If your result is the same as it would be if you did it the "correct" way, does it mean that it is wrong?

I've now passed my silly pencil holding skills down to my son and he was sent home from Kindergarten with a contraption that secures to his pencil.

I've never noticed that he held his pencil improperly probably because I always have.  As a teacher, there are things I will have to notice about my students that I'm not really sure I would make a big deal about if the results are correct and consistent.  This is one of them. 

Ms. Teacher to Some, Ms. Mom to my own......

One would expect since I am studying to be a teacher that my kids have the best study habits, make the best grades, and behave the best in school.  Truth is, that is not true.  Not even a little bit.  I've done little things for my kindergartner such as put sight words on his wall but still he remains unable to read.  For my ninth grader, she brought home a D on her report card in math.  It's quite embarrassing considering one day I will be responsible for teaching other people's children.  I put a lot of pressure on myself about this because I take it very seriously. 
Maybe it's because I am their mom, maybe it's a combination of things like the fact that I work full time and go to school full time and I am not as present as I want to be.  I just know its not a good feeling. 
I'm looking forward to continuing my learning and picking up on strategies to help me with my own as well as in the classroom. 

Doing Life Backwards

I will be 35 in December.  I have worked very hard to achieve a successful career in marketing/advertising sales over the past 15 years.  Over the course of my career I have usually been the youngest one in the office in my role.  At Regent, I'm often the oldest in my classes.  I know everyone walks different paths in life, some of us just discover our passion a little later.  I rely a lot on my adult experiences to help me in class and I believe they help me add another perspective to the views of a younger student fresh out of high school. 
I pray that my adult life experiences can bless my fellow students.  I pray that my adult life experiences can help my future students. 
I should graduate May 2018 after 13 years in and out of college.  I pray that one day I can be an inspiration to someone who is deciding to return to college.  Someone who is doing life backwards. 

The problem is the parents. You will not make any money. Kids are so difficult nowadays.

"Why do you want to teach?"  "You must really love kids!"  There are so many lines I hear when I tell people I am going to school to be a teacher.  Oh, and when I tell them I dream of teaching the SIXTH grade....forget about it!  "Are you crazy?  That's when they are the worst!"  How do you reply to that?  YES I am in fact CRAZY.  Completely nuts.  And, well, I'm crazy excited that one day I'll have the opportunity to influence those little lives.  Lives that may be related to some of the people who questioned me regarding wanting to be a teacher in the first place.

When my daughter was in the third grade she had a teacher named Ms. W.  Ms. W was the type of teacher that clearly hated her job, was burned out, and just unable to instill the love of wonder or learning in my little student because every day was a chore to her.  It was a very difficult year for all of us but I have to thank Ms. W.  It was her poor attitude towards teaching that inspired my love for it and I began taking classes towards a teaching degree shortly after that experience. 

I recall one time specifically when my daughter left her lunch in the class room and as they were walking she told Ms. W.  Ms. W said later that she told my daughter to come with her back to the classroom to get it.  My daughter said she did not hear her and sat crying in the lunch room until a lunch monitor asked her what was wrong.  She told her she left her lunch so the monitor walked her down to her class to get her lunch.  Ms. W was very angry and punished my daughter by giving her a dreaded "mark," her classroom implemented discipline strategy.  Was it a "mark" for forgetting her lunch, not following her back to the class to get it, or because she involved the monitor?  I'll never know.  I do know that while I am a huge believer of personal responsibility, I would not punish a child over forgetting a lunch in the classroom.

The biggest part of expecting students to have personal responsibility for themselves is teaching them what it is and teaching them how they can achieve it.  People are not born with a responsibility instinct.  This will be one of the most important parts of my classroom, and I can't wait.