Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Same Students, Different Year

Even for veteran teachers, each new school year brings with it new challenges. As I've discussed on recent posts I will face many new challenges this coming year including working with different staff members, teaching at a new grade level, becoming adjusted to working with a new principal, and teaching a new literacy program adopted by the county. However, above and beyond these challenges the one I'm most concerned with is being charged with teaching the same students I taught last year.

On the service this would not seem to be much of a problem, but with it comes many issues that I've never dealt with previously. One of the first is that 7th grade is such a transitive year for young people as they are in their adolescent prime. I have only ever taught 7th grade, so I have learned to adjust to those many changes and many personalities that 7th graders seem to have. This coming year I will have the same students for 8th grade. My hope is that many of the students have matured over the summer. It will be interesting to see how the students react to me, as well as how I react to them, since we already know each others strengths and weaknesses.

I pride myself on the fact that in previous years of teaching I learn as little about my incoming students as possible, so as not to prejudice myself in any way towards the student. This year the challenge for me will be to forget my past history with the students, and begin anew. I hope that the students will do the same in return. While there will be many students that are thrilled to have me as their teacher again, there will certainly be those that absolutely dread it. The same goes for me. There are so many students I'm am terribly excited to teach again. There are also some students that I'm quite Frankly not looking forward to dealing with again.

It should be an interesting year! Let me know if you have any suggestions for making this year's unusual circumstance go smoother.

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