Being a middle school teacher is kind of like having  intermittent tooth pain.   Some days, you forget it's there and other days, you can't believe you've it go on this long without doing anything about it.

     I never thought I would be a teacher of 6th graders.  When I was in college, I envisioned teaching cute little first graders how to read.  I loved first grade and couldn't wait to work in our phonics workbook every day.  I was always finished first and would sit at my desk in the back row waiting patiently for the rest of the class to catch up.  Sometimes I wasn't patient, though, and I sneaked a peak at the fun waiting for me on the next page.  Mrs. Williams didn't like that, and because I loved Mrs. Williams, I tried not to give in to temptation too often.  

     I thought teaching first graders would be working with children like I had been:  eager, patient, quick to learn.

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     Was I ever wrong!  Sure they were cute, but they were also needy.  And only about 5 of the kids in my first grade practicum enjoyed learning to read.  The rest of them only wanted to play with their markers and crayons.  And then there was the one who only wanted to sniff and/or eat the paste.   I found that I am not as patient as I imagined I would be.  I considered giving up the game altogether and turning my focus to journalism.   When I mentioned this to my advisor, he suggested that perhaps I was focusing on the wrong age group to teach.  He suggested I try older students -- those who already know how to read.  He begged me not to quit just yet because he saw huge potential in me.  He might even have used the word 'gifted' in reference  to my ability to reach kids.  Or maybe, I'm just imagining that, too.

     

     Anyway, I now teach sixth graders and have been doing so for 15 years.  In the same school, the job I won directly after coming out of the Peace Corps.  Sometimes I wonder about that journalism angle that I gave up on so quickly, especially when I think about what working in the public school system has become.  I want to love it as much as I did when I began all those years ago, but I have to confess that it's a challenge.

      That's a buzz word in education, by the way:  challenge.  Nothing is ever hard.  No student is ever bad.  Things are challenging, that's all.

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     So, back to the 15 years in the same building:  this is where I got my first teaching job at the age of 26.  Just back from an eye-opening stint as a Peace Corp volunteer in Costa Rica, practically dewy-eyed at the prospect of affecting young, impressionable minds.  Fortunately, my first principal was still invested enough in the actual education of children that she forgave me a lot of my early pratfalls, apparently seeing in my earnestness some promise of a good teacher in the making.

 

     But that principal has been retired for eight years, and her replacement took a while to warm up to.  Just when I thought we had come to a meeting of the minds, the district decided to go all weird on us.  Last year, it was the Visible Learning fad, and this year, it's Common Core and collaborative learning.  If only they would jump on the 'low class sizes' bandwagon!

 

    And then Gary Morris came into the picture.  He's an assistant principal, demoted from an area high school and reassigned to us, a mere K-8 school.  There's not as much acclaim or pay associated with being in a K-8 as opposed to a high school, where he already was, so I have to wonder why he's here?  And then, there's the part about his not liking anything I do.  He even criticized my timing in handing out index cards for an activity I had planned.  On a formal evaluation, no less!  People outside the profession probably don't understand how serious that is, but his evaluation of me determines in large part whether I keep my job.  They call it Pay-for-Performance, but when 50% is dependent upon what this  man writes about me, I can't really agree.

     You could say life this school year has been pretty hard.  Oops, I mean challenging.

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    But then, I got the idea to start my own online magazine, and here you have it:  Wendy Online!  I love to write, so I decided to create a platform for my writing.  And to offer that platform to others.  So if you have something you'd like to share, you can do it here.  I'll post it on the Visitor's page for one month for a small fee.

 

   My daughter thinks my online enterprise is pretty funny, but I'm thinking

that I'll have the last laugh.  People enjoy humorous writing, and most

of my stuff has some dry (or is it 'wry'?) humor.  Don't forget to check out my

Musings page, especially if you hate shopping as I do, or have a particularly

obnoxious ex-boyfriend.

 

     Anyway, enjoy my new online magazine, and don't forget to write to me

with any thoughts you have for how I can improve it.  Or posts you'd like to submit.

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   Cheers!

 - Wendy