Valuable Lessons I Have Learned That Make Me a Better Teacher

As I strive to build up my students, these wise suggestions I will always remember.

1. Treat your students the way you would treat them if their parents were watching you. (Spring, 2003, DISD mentor)

2. Walk down the hallways with your head up, make eye contact with each other, and greet your colleagues by name. (Staff Development, August 2004, J. Moreno, Principl)

3. Sometimes we at school are the best thing in a student’s life. Don’t ruin this by barking reprimands first thing in the morning. Instead, make a point to greet any and every student with a cheerful “hello.” (Fall 2005, B. Johnson, Vice-Principal)

Old Friend.... Renewed Friendship

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of coming across the e-mail address of a good friend from high school. Brent was the boy who lived down the street, sat across the aisle in some of my classes, and frequently trumped me at weekly spelling bees. I never minded too much, even though I was highly competitive when it came to academia.

He moved to a different school, studied abroad in Brazil, and disappeared from my town forever. I remember writing him one letter teasing him about learning to speak "Brazilian," knowing full well that such blatant ignorance would infuriate him; yet, he would not insult my intelligence by double checking whether I really knew that nuts are Brazilian, but the language is not. Anyway, he never replied to my letter, so I didn't write any more. Until just a few weeks ago...

Since our recent reacquaintance, Brent has honored me with two posts on his blog. (He's really too flattering!) (August 13, 2006 and June 25, 2006.) He deserves some recognition on my meager blog.

[CAVEAT: A list is coming up.]

In addition to catching up with life stories--sagas have been lived between us--our recent correspondence has induced me to add more things to my list of things to do sometime.

1. Travel to New Zealand - probably when I finally retire from teaching.
2. Plan to meet up somewhere in Europe soon ("soon" is kind of relative)
3. Start a blog (hence, this blog sooner rather than later)
4. Eat more healthily. Evidently Brent, among other talents, is a cordon bleu chef and an organic foods mavin. He even makes his own cheese!
5. Exercise my creative arts. He is actually an artist too, as witnessed by the book sculpture in Cincinnati, Ohio that he worked on as an intern while studying sculpture. Wow!
6. Check out "skype." This one stresses me out just a little--it's technology, and I'm several years behind on personal technology at home.

My favorite quotes from my sixth graders

Kids say the most extraordinary things. The 2005-2006 group of sixth graders were noteworthy for their buoyant eccentricity.

1. My students can be exuberant about mundane affairs. “I ate well today!” (Charlie, as he came into class after lunch one day, patting his belly.)
2. They are inspirational. “I simply love orange!” (Miranda, lounging on a big fuzzy beanbag; her spontaneous announcement inspired me to use orange as an accent color in a room in my house.)
3. They often enjoy homework and creating. “I couldn’t stop writing!” (Azaria, apologizing for not sticking to a 3-page limit on her essay.)
4. They are comfortable in my classroom. “We like your classroom, Ms. T. We don’t know what it is, but it’s... peaceful.” (Jennifer and friends, as they entered my classroom one day.)
5. They know who they are. “We can even belch on a GT level.” (Keith, reveling in the fact that he is GT.)

Some Things I Love About Teaching GT

1. I get to teach my students all three years of middle school.
2. I have great fellow teachers in the GT Department.
3. My students think I’m cool, except when I say “cool.”
4. My students understand how I can love grammar so intensely.
5. I have small class sizes and a huge classroom. (Don’t tell the other teachers!)
6. My students know what “etymology” is and indulge me daily when I break down a huge word for them.
7. I “have to” show movies and movie clips in my class. (The Fellowship of the Ring, Hercules, First Knight, Matrix, The Odyssey, etc.)
8. I have an awesome principal.
9. I get paid to have fun.

The Top Ten Things* GT Kids Can Be

(brought to you by the letter "P")

1. perfectionists
2. procrastinators
3. profane
4. profound
5. perspicacious
6. persistent
7. precocious
8. prodigious
9. precious
10. peculiar

* In no particular order. (Heck! Who am I kidding? There is an order to this list, though it may be logical only to me.)

GT-ness

I am a middle school GT English teacher. I can only teach these gifted and talented kids because I too am GT. In the next few entries, I will share a few observations from my experience. (Get ready for lists!)

The Venn diagram (above) represents the strengths of a GT person. (diagram source)

Lists, to a fault

I’m an inveterate list maker. I approach most days with a list in hand or the need to make a list in mind. Incidentally, I also am crippled by a cluttered work space, so before productive work can proceed, I have to clear away randomness. This need to categorize and list is a constant companion. I am organized in theory at all times. I am organized in practice most of the time, or I have plan to implement.

My clothes are hung in my closets in a particular way. My dance shoes are lined up in an order clear only to me. My drinking glasses have a specific place in the cupboard. I like my towels folded the same way my mother does, which is not the same way Martha Stewart folds towels. I like my personal business files alphabetized. There are times when order is beautiful.

But there is some relief to the madness. I prefer not to make my beds. I don’t mind if my street shoes are in disarray in the closet. My underwear drawer is an ocean of cotton. I like pictures hung asymmetrically and in odd groupings. The books on my bookshelves are merely imperfectly ordered by type. And I love floor cushions, even if they’re scattered haphazardly on my beautiful wood floors. Wild gardens appeal to me. Like Robert Herrick, I often find “delight in disorder.”

Because I am super organized, my lists also take on the personality of a three or four level outline. I leave the Roman numerals off my grocery list, but other lists are intricately detailed and categorized. I needed a break from the cerebral process of list-making, so this summer I devised a twist to the list. It is a patentable method for getting through a list without the mental pressure we list makers often give ourselves. In fact, it’s more like a game, and even has great marketing potential for teaching young kids how to be diligent with their chores—making chore time more like a game. For adults, it removes the humdrum of list-checking and ensures sustainable discipline for accomplishing anything from complicated tasks to mundane chores. I’m still working on the details.

For now, I’m using an amalgam of my pen and paper lists (which are now on the backs of pages ripped from an old desk calendar) and a very primitive prototype of my new system. In addition to these slips of paper, I have an ongoing list on my laptop of things I really ought to check into or do. I even have a file entitled “Blogger Fodder” which lists some of the topics I’ve thought about adding to my weblog. (“Lists” was not Blog fodder.)