Tuesday, October 08, 2013
I Was Just Reminded . . .
. . . of something that I wish I'd thought of a month ago. In the fall of 1963, 50 years ago, I walked into a classroom on the second floor of Corsicana High School and began my teaching career. I taught four sections of junior English and had to keep a study hall. Do they still have study hall? It was a great experience in most ways, and I remember the students from my two years in Corsicana very well. Some of them are on Facebook, so I even get to keep up with them a little bit. I really enjoyed those classes, and I might still be teaching high school if it weren't for all the little things I didn't particularly like, which were all the little additional duties besides the teaching part. I went to grad school one summer and then got a teaching assistantship at North Texas State University, now the University of North Texas. And that was the end of my high school teaching career. It was short but sweet.
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4 comments:
You started teaching high school the Fall after I graduated from high school.
The high school where I work has a 30-minute Study Skills period just before lunch. Students who are maintaining a C or above in their classes can use the time to do homework or work on projects. Students who have Ds or Fs in a subject are assigned "Intervention" with a teacher in the subject(s) they are failing. It's all a bit chaotic, but our school's reading scores have increased significantly since this program was implemented.
And, yes, most of the teachers I know love teaching but hate, hate, hate the massive amount of paperwork associated with it.
I was starting my junior year in high school then. Had I been in Mexia rather than Brooklyn I could have had you as a teacher!
Every time one of these stories comes up - testing and the like - Jackie (like Diane Kelley and so many others) gives thanks she is retired and out of it.
Jeff
My first teaching experience was in a Junior High School (they didn't call them Middle Schools back then). Like you I taught Eight Grade and Ninth Grade English. It was the most draining job I've ever had (doing everything for the First Time). Tons of correcting! But, this is where I really learned how to Teach.
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