I made it!
I completed my first year of teaching. It was an eye opening experience that has helped mold my views in education in a variety of areas.
I am a special education teacher at a North Nashville middle school. Our fifth graders come into fifth grade already behind. It’s our job to catch them up during the middle school years before we send them off to high school. That shows me that we have dropped the ball along the way to middle school. We have come to a point where it’s okay that students come in to middle school behind. That shouldn’t be okay.
There are bad teachers and they should not be in the classroom. There isn’t more I can say about this. Every career field has bad workers, and the teaching profession is no different.
The TEAM evaluation made me a better teacher. The rubric was really helpful in my growth as a teacher. The feedback I received from my principal and assistant principal really helped. I knew what my principal expected from me and I met those expectations. I was glad that I was being held accountable.
(Don’t get me started on teacher prep programs.)
In regards to TCAP testing, I did not see the scary testing chamber where we take the fun out of education and force the students to bubble in answer sheets for days at the time. We hit the standards that needed to be hit during the year, and we cycled back through a review when we got closer to TCAP. We still taught new concepts, read new books, started new projects, and had fun. Schools decide their climate, and my climate was not like any of the scary stories that I read online. Assessments are an important tool in the education of our students. They are needed to make sure that I am doing what I am supposed to as a teacher. I am glad that the accountability is there.
I did a lot this school year:
I’ve broken up fights.
I’ve had to stop students from harming themselves.
I had to use our school’s resources to get a student clothing so he didn’t have to wear the same clothes every day.
I have given a legislative update to teachers.
One of our students was shot in the head while standing in the doorway to his home.
Student’s parents have been murdered.
I have seen a mother cry tears of joy that her son was receiving a quality education.
I have seen parents beam with pride about how well their student is doing in life. …
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