Late post, though in all honesty I didn't mean to make it this late. Summer 2016 went by quite quickly, and it started off with a somewhat unexpected event that affected me more than I thought it would. That's for another blog post though!
So third year as a junior high teacher... which turned out to be easier than my first two years. I taught just one core class: 3 Grade 8 science classes. I took what I learned, and made improvements for that year.
Like my second year, the third year went extremely quickly. Things started off really well, and I started to lose some steam near the beginning of the year. Fortunately, fatigue didn't really hit me till the last couple of weeks!
Here's what I learned over the years
1) It's important to set the tone on day 1 and to continue with that tone for as long as you can: Like my second year, I made sure to lay down all my expectations. My homeroom didn't give me any issue like my previous homeroom, so I didn't have to give them DT on the first day of school! =P Unfortunately, I started to be a little bit too laid back, which was quite evident as the year progressed.
2) Be vigilante! Students can be quite tricky. I know for a fact that students cheat on exams. Sometimes I catch them, sometimes I don't. From what I noticed throughout my three years, they tend to cheat more on quizzes for some reason than unit tests or the final exam. Unfortunately this year, I caught a couple cheaters on the Science final... It got quite out of hand, which I then had to refer to administration to deal with. Normally, I would give zeros and a stern lecture/DT, but this was a case I couldn't deal with...
3) Tell stories, and lots of them. During the grade 9 graduation this year, a couple of my students from my homeroom last year gave a speech as class historians. Previous class historians would go through memories they shared within their grade 9 years, which normally include comical events. They would also take the time to compliment, or take slight jabs at their grade 9 teachers. Like I stated in a previous blog post, I was pleasantly surprised when the mentioned my name (since I don't teach a grade 9 core class), and how they remembered me for "story time" and for how I'm able to keep a stoic face when I'm angry. =P
Like I mentioned before, my last mentor teacher told me that the most important thing about teaching is building the rapport, and telling personal stories is one way of doing it.
And it's true. I would tell them all sorts of stories: my personal accomplishments, and more importantly my failures, past events, and lessons that I learned. At times, if the situation comes to it, I would mention things that my friends experienced; and don't fret... I don't use names at all =P. I realized, no matter which student it is, they open up to stories even if some of them get tired of hearing me say "Okay class, it's story time".
4) Unfortunately, you may begin to forget names of previous students. Each year, I probably go through 130 different names. It's quite a task to remember 130 names, but fortunately my memory is, pardon my arrogance, slightly better than normal. However, as time goes on, I do admit that I forget some of my former students names, especially if they didn't stick out in my mind.
That reminds me of a time, when I went to go vote and I saw one of my high school teachers at the... voting location. He recognized my face and said hello, but it was obvious he forgotten my name. I was hurt, but reminded myself that it had been 6 years since I graduated from high school.
Just last winter... or was it two winters ago?, I met one of my former students at Starbucks. She came up to me and said "Hi Mr. Maruyama!", but in all honesty I forgotten her name. All I recalled was her face, and that she went to a school where I was a student teacher. Ever since then, I realized that it's normal to forget.
5) At times, you may question yourself, whether you're chose the right path, but I think it's worth it in the end.
I was questioning whether I should post my last point or not, since some readers may find it controversial.
When I was an education student, I recall one of my professors saying how many new teachers leave the field within five years for a multitude of reasons: amount of hours to prep/mark/extra curricular, work/life balance, and yearly salary.
It's true.
I know of many people who criticize teachers of having it easy since we get essentially three months off a year (almost 2 months for summer, 2 weeks for winter, 1 week for spring and your other holidays), and that we just babysit children all day. Going off a slight tangent, I'm sure many of you have heard the saying "If you can't do anything, teach".
I can't say how difficult an occupation outside of education is, since majority of jobs/positions I had before involved the field of education, but I'm quite sure that teaching is no walk in the park. It's true that I don't have to hold a patient's life in my hands, nor ensure that a million/billion dollar deal goes awry, nor making sure that a structure meets engineering requirements. That, I'm glad, is something that I don't have to deal with on a day to day basis.
I deal with continuous lesson planning, ensuring that I meet the curriculum requirements and make adjustments to help bring interest to even my hardest-to-reach students. During the school year, there's rarely any time in which I don't think about school.
I deal with student drama, and the occasional parent drama. Teachers don't just teach, we interact with students on a day to day basis. We look out for signs of student behaviours that are different to what they normally display. Each year, we notice students going through challenges, like depression, anxiety and all sorts of other issues that may seem trivial to us, but mean a lot to them. Parents for the most part are very supportive at my school, but sometimes we have to deal with difficult parents who believe that we're totally in the wrong, when we're doing our professional AND personal best to help their children in the best way possible.
I deal with marking. Lots of it. I have taken lots of short cuts this year in marking (scantrons, having students mark small quizzes, getting friends to help mark, etc), but it still eats up quite a bit of time. All the extra time outside of our work day is done on our time. This makes our work/life balance quite tedious to balance. I learned my lesson from my first year, and didn't dedicate as much time as I did to work, so that I could keep myself physically and mentally healthy.
Now, after the long spiel, it's back to my main point. There were times that I got discouraged about my profession and whether I made the right choice or not. There are factors beyond my control as a teacher that made me wonder why I need to put up with it. Of course, I admit, sometimes I wish I had a higher salary. Personally, I think teachers are paid well, but everyone wants to make more money (and was it after $100,000 a year where happiness doesn't increase anymore?)
And yes, that made me wonder if I was meant for teaching. I haven't really tried any other field, since I started tutoring before I was even a teenager. At times, I wondered how it would be like to leave teaching and try another field.
But in the end, what keeps me grounded are my students. I teach for them, and not for anybody else (which reminds me of a story... but that's for another time). To see students succeed, and for them to say that I played a part in the life is rewarding enough. To see students fail, and perhaps give them a helping hand, or to see them rise back up again on their own, is even more rewarding.
And for that, it makes me want to teach my students the meaning of success. To some of my students, it may mean making the big dough, driving nice cars, buying luxury brands and houses. To others, it may mean starting their own family. Each one of them has their own stories, and no matter how confident they may be, I want them to all know that they can find some level of success.
It is one of my desires, to have a student come back, 10 years, 20 years, how many years down the road and tell me that they're happy.
That is why, I choose and remain to teach.
