The Art of Teaching

I'm a teacher. That is my job. Some days it feels like a job and sometimes it feels like a hobby. Some days, I come home and think to myself....I am changing the world, I am making an impact, this is good. And then there are other days when I come home and think "If today's high schoolers are any reflection of the future of our country, we are in big trouble." But most of the time, I'm somewhere in between and today was an in between day. My kids didn't wow me with their Spanish skills, but they made me laugh and when they can make me laugh, that's a good thing. That's really what relationships are all about. And I think relationship is ultimately what makes a good teacher, not great lesson plans or cool school supplies. (Although, sometimes I'd like to believe its cool school supplies). Well, today first period was making me laugh. First they started playing a game where they went through the alphabet and started naming animals that started with the letters. They were working, they really were, but they were also yelling random animal names. They even had me googling animals that start with an "x". X-ray Fish...there you go. I even learned something new today. Then there was the game where they all said quotes from Finding Nemo. They were lucky that is one of my favorite movies. They were making me laugh...especially the part where they imitated Ellen Degeneres' character.....they were speaking whale. You know the part i'm talking about. Gosh, it was funny. That story had nothing to do with the content I teach, but if you were there you would have laughed too...and sometimes we just need to laugh more, don't you think?