I’ve been learning so much lately in my job and I’ve really enjoyed being able to talk to and learn from the the teachers I’ve been working with. I never really felt all that passionate about or interested in pedagogy and I spent the first five years of my teaching career coming to the conclusion that there wasn’t a whole lot that I could do as a teacher that would make a difference. Kids wouldn’t show up for class because they had family/psychological/social/motivational (whatever) issues and so there was nothing I could do about them, and the rest of the students were either too lazy to try or were only motivated by numbers on a page. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of course. There’s all the administrative pressure to submit marks. I couldn’t control the fact that students were late all the time without consequences and on and on and on. So why would I be motivated to think about pedagogical theory?

It’s a really amazing opportunity to spend a year outside of that situation to be able to think deeply about these ideas and discover things that you are passionate about without the day to day pressures of the classroom (not that there haven’t been pressure this year–don’t even get me started there!).

I feel like I’ve got a tonne of strategies for helping struggling and reluctant readers and I feel so much more confident in my knowledge of curriculum, assessment, and instructional practice. I have so many things I’d like to try when I get back into the classroom but– and here’s the big but– what if I get back into the classroom and I can’t or don’t implement any of the things I’m thinking about right now? It’s so easy to lose sight of the big picture when you’ve got a kid in your class telling you to f@*# off, or when you’re dealing with a parent who really doesn’t care whether or not her son attends your class. How am I going to maintain this energy and optimism when I’m back in the classroom? How do I make sure this year isn’t a waste? 

Any ideas?