I teach 7th and 8th grade French. It’s French 1, but split over 2 years. Which is amazing when you LOVE your kiddos, but can be challenging if there is a student you don’t quite click with. Last year one of my students, who we’ll name Stevie, started off the very first day being VERY upset about being in French. Stevie wanted to be in Spanish, because he felt it would be easy to get an A since he comes from a Spanish-speaking family. He is also autistic, which for him means that there is ZERO filter on what he shares with the class. Needless to say, this made the first few weeks of our first year together difficult! As the year went on, things did not seem to get any better. Stevie never wanted to speak, work with others, write anything, etc. So by the time the final exam…
Because I love alliteration! Perfecting pedagogy isn’t about becoming a perfect teacher – we all know that just doesn’t exist – and that’s okay! But I do think every educator sometimes needs to look hard at their systems, the tools that they are using, and the lessons that they are facilitating, and evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. And evaluate HONESTLY! From there – perfect systems at a rate of #onepercentbetter a day! Why start now? I am a nerdy teacher – and I LOVE being that way! I look forward to reworking my curriculum, to tracking down great resources, and I totally geek out at PDs! But, I often feel like there are not many others like me. I feel pretty alone in my department and building. I often get told that I “care too much” about my kids and my job. When I wanted to start a book…
