Teaching

This September, I will be a teacher. A real teacher, someone responsible for the education of children.

Strange.

I feel like I was a student so recently. I guess I was, a graduate student, only last year, but I don't feel long enough out of high school that I can be a teacher.

I am a Teach for America 2011 Corps Member in the Connecticut region. I will be teaching Secondary General Science, which is somewhere between 7th and 12th grade. I could also end up teaching Biology if needed. Once I receive my school placement, I will have a better idea of the specific class I will be teaching.

In late-June, I begin training at what is called Institute, the basic training of TFA. I have recently begun doing the "pre-Institute coursework", which involves a couple of large softcover books, a few videos, and some large PDFs.

The first reading assignment is a 100-page story about Ms. Lora, a 4th grade teacher and TFA alumna. It is certainly interesting to hear about her creative teaching techniques, but I think my time might be better spent hearing anecdotes of high school teachers. I don't expect to be teaching 4th graders, and the trials and challenges of teenagers in another beast completely. I am enjoying the reading assignment, especially because it's getting me revved up to be an educator, but I'd rather be learning techniques for managing a middle/high school classroom.

I do like Ms. Lora's stories; I'd call her a badass. She is creative and relentless in preparing her kids for the state English exams. I would prefer if the stories were more organized, maybe by teaching technique or chronologically, rather than 100 pages of independent half-page stories.

Ah, well. Back to fourth grade stories with the badass Ms. Lora. It's an interesting read, anyway.