Well, I’m back. After a wonderful month-long break I am back
at school and feeling good. It’s day two of classes and I feel that this will be
the only moment this week where I have a spare moment to sit down and write for
my blog. Of course I make time for my novel (I’m on chapter 7 now, oh so
exciting, I know). There’s always time to write for that! I feel like I’m
unstoppable when I get to a really good part and my heart races. YES MY HEART
BEAT GOES UP! I felt like I was about to have a dang heart attack the other
evening when I was writing an amazingly awesome scene. I almost cried when it
was over because I had wound myself up so tight! You know your passion when you
have those symptoms.
Hmm, what else is new? Breaking Bad is over (and for those
of you that didn’t know, Breaking Bad is probably tied for my number one
television broadcast, that and Once Upon A Time. I LOVE EMMA SWAN!) Now that I’ve gone a little quirky on you, I’m going to chicka-chicka-chicka break it
down.
I’ve only had one day in my new TCE course but I love my
teacher so much that she has inspired me to write a new post. We meet once a
week, which is a little depressing I think, but she’s an amazing woman with a
great attitude and positive vibe to her class. Her name is Felicia and I’ve had
her previous to this class as a short four-week session two summers ago. I’m
very happy to have the opportunity to be spending more time with her.
In class yesterday we were talking about literacy. Now let
me ask you, what does it mean to be literate? Of course you think right away
the ability to read, write, and communicate with others. You might also have
thought it’s also the ability to identify and compute as well as solve
problems. But have you ever thought that there are different types of literacy
or that maybe there are individual stages of literacy? Until this class I
hadn’t really thought about it. I mean this could tie into the seven
intelligences (audial, intrapersonal, interpersonal, etc.) meaning that your
student could be really literate when it comes to science. You could have a
student that it really good at math equations and the language of math but
might have issues reading a novel in their English class. They might be
competent and confident when it comes to augmenting the scientific process
verbally but maybe they aren’t confident writing out each of the stages down on
paper because they aren’t solid in their abilities. This goes back to a TED
talk that a friend sent me the link to the other day. We each have our own
genius and we as teachers need to learn, understand, and respect that before we
go into the classroom.
I’m going to be honest with you, because I can be. It’s been
two days of class and I have five in total. Three out of the five classes I am
bored in. Do you want to know why? Because these teachers (THAT I PAY THOUSANDS
OF DOLLARS TO EVERY YEAR) are bad at their profession. They are awful teachers
(all besides the TCE professors). They
don’t cater to the different approaches that these students have at learning.
Plus I mean, my genius or my literacy does NOT coincide with the demands of the
Biology classroom. To some it does, and I respect that. You are the lucky
individuals that have found what they are good at. Some people spend their
entire lives doing that. Me? I like writing. Writing intensive course are a
wet-dream to an English major with a writing minor. I adore them. They make me
happy. But see, that’s because that’s my niche. That is my genius. That is my
area of literacy.
This is really important to remember (going back to the
point I left hanging) when in the classroom and working with students because
the troublemaker might be a rotten child not because he or she likes to torture
you, but maybe the student just doesn’t get it. Maybe the individual needs it
from a different angle; an angle that he or she understands. WE HAVE THE
LIGHTBULB!
Keep that in mind every day. Maybe the way you’re trying to
explain a concept to another just isn’t clicking. Maybe you’re upset with your
dad because you’re trying to tell him a story of some approach that you had to
a problem and he responds angrily with the way that he would have done it.
(This hasn’t happened lately….) It’s not worth the waste of energy on
frustration. Keep a level head and remember that not everyone is good at what
you do and others might be better at things that you might not fancy. Everyone is
different.
And that’s why they teach me these things. SO I remember
that my student body is NOT just one entity.
Have a good evening ya’ll.
Until we next chat!
P.S Here's a giraffe.
