The title of this post is exactly what the principal of my new school told me at the time she hired me. It filled me with both pride and fear. I was identified as a good teacher, a good fit for the school, but also the hope that I would fulfill that role to everyone's satisfaction enough not to be pink-slipped in May. One becomes fairly skeptical after working three schools in a single calendar year.
In being a "half-glass full" kind of gal, I thought I'd share some of my favorite student & teacher memories:
That time in 9th grade when my English teacher referred to Ren & Stimpy's log song.
Referring to that same Log Song while teaching Algebra 2 eleven years later talking about the inverse function of exponentials.
The time in 10th grade when my Science teacher described a worm buried in sawdust as the same species from Dune. I was the only one who laughed in that class of 30.
Thirteen years later, I quote Yoda's, "Do or do not, there is no try" and one kid thinks the line was written by Shakespeare.
"Oh, wait!" he corrects himself, "It was 'To be or not to be.' Well, they're kinda related."
I love teaching. I love the part where you get to interact with the students in the classroom. I love the part where any activity can become personalized and they understand that you are trying to get who they are as a person while they are trying to get who they are in "the big picture." I love building the rapport and getting them to laugh.
On Friday I showed how 4 can be rewritten as 2-squared. "Change the base," I instructed, "just don't drop the base." A worthy chuckle came from one single student who just outed himself as a dubstep lover.
I feel so lucky to be where I am right now. Sitting at the dining room table, with papers surrounding me, on a Sunday night, updating grades.
Such stuff life is made of.
