Week 6 reflection

  At the end of the introduction to the Basic Writing Pedagogy chapter in the Guide to Composition Pedagogies book there is a list of five principles and practices for Basic Writing Pedagogy. The second I read the five things, I thought about ways to display those five things in my classroom as a reminder to both me and my students. Those five points get at the heart of what I try to do in my classroom to varying degrees of success. It is quite a juggling act, and I like to think that I am good at what I do.

This school year has tested my confidence though, and this course, and learning about composition pedagogies has helped me stay afloat in the rough waters of eleventh grade English. At the moment I am stuck on the idea of students finding value in what we do in the classroom. The biggest complaint I hear from high school students is that they are not learning skills to help them in their lives, and they struggle to understand the abstract way school prepares them for a job or for life as an adult. It has been eating away at me this year, causing me to second guess many of my assignments.

As I am mentoring a first year teacher, and she is following what I am teaching this year, we mapped things out at the start of the year, and it has been frustrating the last few weeks as I have thought of cool things to do because of this course, but I have to put them on the backburner for next year. This school year has roughly ten more weeks, and I am already planning a summer full of changing up my entire curriculum. Not exactly the relaxing summer non-teachers think teachers have.

I have been finding that focusing ahead has helped limit the anxiety of grad school on top of a full time teaching job. I am constantly worrying that one is going to suffer in order for me to do the other one well. So far, that balance has been fine, but last week I felt like I was neglecting my duties as a teacher, well, as a grader. The problem with grading is that it builds and it can feel insurmountable if you get behind. I have known plenty of teachers who have taken a day off from school to catch up on grading. Instead, I leveled with my students and told them to give me the two assignments out of the four that they felt represented their best learning, and they could keep the other two. It cut my work load in half, and allowed me to see what the students thought was important/their best work. Win/win right? Right?

In my professional life, I told myself Saturday night was my night. No matter how many papers I had to grade, or lessons to plan, or books to prep, Saturday nights were my night. Since grad school started, every Saturday night has been dedicated to school. My night is now Tuesday from 5:45-6:15, which is the length of time it takes me to leave Composition class, walk to my car, and drive home. I cherish that thirty minutes of solitude, and force myself to not think about anything. It is bliss.