Two Weeks

It has been two weeks since I hit the ground running and back in the swing of teaching high school students again. It has been an interesting ride so far. High school students are creatures like no other. They are stretching their thought patterns and flexing their independence muscles and yet have a sort of vulnerability to them. They need to have their hand held but dont want to admit that they are needing help with anything. it is a dichotomy that makes me nuts and makes me proud. It takes a lot of patience not to strangle them somedays and yet I remember being there in that "sky's the limit" phase.

Well, maybe I wasn't there that long. Adolescence, as I recall rather painfully, was rife with things I would rather forget. And it is kind of interesting that the cycles of adolescence go around in much the same patterns that I saw as a teen. Growing pains, awkward and gangly and all around hell. Sure there were bright spots but school wasn't really one of them. Odd to hear coming from a teacher? Perhaps. I didn't enter into this profession becuase I was an A+ teacher's pet. In fact, there was a time when I was sure that I would barely pass high school at all.

In a way this gives me a good perspective that allows me to understand the needs of my students a bit more. I expect a lot from them but I also give them some room for mistakes and for growth. I understand late assignments and I try not to be totally overbearing. I am proud that some students came to me today completely voluntarily looking for help and then walking away feeling like maybe this Language Arts business wasn't completely foreign and impossible after all. It isn't ever easy asking for help when you are fourteen, especially from someone who is a relative stranger and has thus far proven to be a bit tedious in requiring work done when the last teacher only told stories and let mayhem reign. Nevertheless, it has begun and I hope that word spreads in that class that I am not so bad after all.