Tuesday, February 2, 2010

5 things i've learned in 5 years of teaching

1. it doesn't bode well for a kid's grade if you need a calculator to be sure you've correctly added up the points on his test.  [or, perhaps, it speaks to my math skills.]

2. remember when you were a student and you were whispering in class and your teacher ALWAYS knew it was you?  teachers don't have super sonic hearing...students just whisper really loudly.

3. when a student gets a detention, it is also a punishment for the adult who proctors the detention.  i didn't do anything wrong!  why do i have to get to school early and sit silently in a room for an hour?

4. the freshman hallway smells like b.o. and the sophomore hallway smells like axe body spray (to cover up the b.o.).  by junior year they have learned how to use deodorant to stop the smell from getting started in the first place.  i'm so glad i work with juniors.

5. kids surprise you a lot.  sometimes it's for a bad reason, but more often it's for a good one.  that's what makes going to work every day worthwhile.  on thursday i found out that a student of mine had received an award from the atlanta rotary club - one student every year gets the award from each high school in the city.  this is a special little award, in that the student gets to pick a teacher to honor, too, with an accompanying award.  and our student this year picked me!  i'm really and truly touched...especially because i never would have guessed that she would pick me.  you never know whom you affect, i guess.  (though you can usually guess who you DON'T...)  the cutest part?  she and the college counselors were told to keep it a secret from me until i got my letter from the rotary club.  which made it that much more fun.

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