I Freaking LOVE My Kids! (or, I Think I've Made a Good Career Choice)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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No, you didn’t miss a memo - I don’t have children. I’ve been doing classroom observation hours in preparation to eventually teach English in grades 7 through 12. In New York, you must have put 100 hours of classroom observation in before you’re allowed to student teach - I’m finishing up my first 20 hours on Tuesday.

Observation hours, for the uninitiated amongst you, are all about watching your cooperating teacher(s) teach & observing how the classroom is set up & run, how the teacher reacts to the students & vice versa, the number of kids in the class, the sex & ethnicity make-up, etc. Sometimes the co-operating teacher lets the student observer have some responsibility in the classroom, sometimes the observer just sits and, well, observes. I’ve been in the former category, lucky for me.

Anyway, I’ve been at my old high school with two former teachers, observing two 12th grade AP English classes & two Regents-level classes. (Regents-level is like “regular” track – statewide tests called Regents exams are given in high schools in NY & the English one is given at the end of 11th grade.). The two Regents classes are composed entirely of kids who’re floundering, academically.

I’ve found that, to my mild surprise, I absolutely ADORE the 11th graders! I mean, the AP kids are cool kids, but I’ve really fallen in love with the 11th graders, man. They’re so incredibly interesting - even the ones who can be pains in the butt are fun to be with. True, they never shut up & you practically have to Krazy Glue some of their butts to their seats, but that’s okay by me.

Why? I’m still young & idealistic. :wink: I love seeing their potential - it’s hiding, but it’s there. Some more than others, of course, but they all, I think, are capable of doing at least “okay”, if not way better than just “okay” - my co-operating teacher commented to me that they’ve made incredible strides since the beginning of the year. Makes me smile just to think of them.

And they listen to me when I ask them to do something! Without grumbling! Wow… Freaky.

Anyway, I love the little darlings & just wanted to share that with the world at large. Tuesday’s my last day, so I’m gonna bring in a bit of candy for all of my classes & take the last minute of each class to say goodbye. I’ll be back to visit, though - I couldn’t not come back - and I told the teachers that I’d give both of them my e-mail so that if any of the kids needed help in the next six months, they could contact me.

Awww. Warm fuzzies. I hope I still feel like this when I start student teaching. :wink:

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Good for you! The world needs enthusiastic teachers!

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My husband teaches 11th grade science. Prepare to say phrases that you never thought you would have cause to utter:

“Dustin, please remove your pants from your head.”

“Nicole, leave that doorknob here.”

“Okay, don’t panic. Let’s work this into our lesson. How can we use the scientific method to unlock Mike from his chair?”

“Okay, don’t panic. Look how the potassium nitrate is crystalizing on Mr. Observing Vice-Principal’s jacket!”

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sugaree, I’m hoping not to have to use the latter two for one major reason with a couple sub-headings:

  1. I’m going into the English field, not the science field.

    a) Hence, I’m not so sure I’ll remember the scientific method in a pinch.

    b) If one of my kids has potassium nitrate in my classroom, it means s/he brought it in from somewhere else - not so good for my reputation, letting kids sneak various chemical substances into class.

The first two, however, I’m surprised I haven’t yet heard/had to use. Like I said - I love my kids (I already think of them as “my” kids :)), but they’re antsy as all hell, constantly up and about.

Kids - gotta love 'em. :slight_smile: