Being A Teacher
I was passionate about
teaching but being a perfectionist had its drawback in a classroom situation…but
it had a plus side, as well. I sometimes told my students, “There’s one chief
and many Indians in here.” I also know that you can please some of the people
sometimes, but you can never please everyone all the time. I was a conservative
teacher and class management was high on the list. I’m sure it was because of
my own learning style. I can’t function
in chaos with lots of distractions, and providing that for my students was
imperative for me. Therefore, I was a
friend for the parents who liked discipline and a foe to students who enjoyed
chaos. There were days when I could handle situations with humor, but more
often than not, I chose to not let my guard down, probably being perceived as
biased and cold to my students, though in my heart I felt lots of compassion to
do the right thing as their teacher. I
enjoyed teaching the whole child in the form of large projects that were
multi-faceted in achieving skills. It was fun when we were not teaching to a
test. The students in Eanes were very capable of learning skills this way. I
started out in a low socio-economic neighborhood with difficult and challenging
students, Pearce Middle School in North East Austin. A student stabbed a substitute
in the hand in the cafeteria that year. That was enough for me. Our move to Red Oak enlightened me as a
teacher and was a good move for me. We had regular students from a small rural
area near Dallas. I gained experience
and confidence, earning the award of “Teacher of the Year.” We moved back to
Austin and settled into the Eanes district. I often told Derek that I would
have never been able to stay in the teaching profession if I had not had
students and parents who were much like myself and motivated to learn.
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