Is anyone else feeling the way I am? A tad bit "down in the mouth" as they say on White Christmas? I have found myself religiously counting down the days until the school year is over. There is just something negative and un-optimistic about that. I have been looking to find reasons to get excited to come to my job. Instead of seeing them as "these last hellish days," I need to look at them as the last fews chances that I have to wield some sort of postive influence over my students. Every morning I am trying to hype myself up for this job. They don't tell you about this mental struggle in your undergraduate.
Okay, so here is what I have been thinking.... everyone hates their job right? So I just need to buck up and stop whining about it on my blogger! The thing is, that as a Chicago public school teacher, EVERYONE knows that my job is tough. If I meet anyone new and tell them what I do and for what district, I immedietly get raised eyebrows and a sympathetic, "Ohhhh... that must be tough." So this makes me feel specially entiteled to whine about what I do. But that is dumb. Because MOST jobs have their pluses and minues. Sometimes the minues in my job seem to overwhelm the postive. But STILL! So here is the wee bit of hope I mentioned in the title..... I will officially no longer bitch about any aspect of my job on this blog! Weehoooooo!!! The masses upon masses of people who read this can breath a collective sigh of relief. :)
Here is a fun thing that happened today. I am up at the board, making a poster of the components my students need to include on their upcoming science fair projects. I feel like everyone is listening and interested because they LOVE working on their science fair projects and they feel relieved that we are actually doing them. Then all of a sudden a hear a quiet voice ask, "Where are Ms. Dahlseng's shoes"? Followed by more students voicing them same question (if you are curious, they did NOT raise their hands to ask the question). Soon, the whole class was disussing what had happened to my shoes. They were just hidden under my long black pants! Even something as small as my "missing shoes" can disengage my little learners at this point in the year! Speaking of shoes, the other day I had to duct tape my shoes together because they broke in the middle of the day! My students had a field day with that because they are always ragging on me for not wearing name brand shoes. Some of them keep promising to buy me Jordans. :) I would take them and run!
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I LOVE the swings! I really truly do!!
3 comments:
I'm not so sure whining is a bad thing, as long as you don't succumb to it completely.
And I remember reading one of the many books you recommended to me about a first-year inner-city teacher's experiences teaching, and how optimistic and frustrated her journals were (all at the same time). And she eventually got burnt out / worn out by the city and moved to a suburban job. Which is fine too.
But I remember you talking about how hard it would be. It just is different when you experience things sometimes. It's one thing to know something will be difficult - an entirely different thing to convince yourself to get out of bed every morning to go back to it.
Anyhow, I think you are brave and courageous to go do that every day, and I think there is value in continuing to do a good thing, whether or not the good results are immediate, tangible, or even present at all. I would like to think we could all continue to live according to what is the right thing to do, not necessarily according to what we want to come of it ... wow this was a long comment. Caught me in writing mood I guess.
Hi Kelly,
I liked your shoe stories! :) I know I'm learning too that I need to find GOOD things in my job and not just let myself be frustrated by it. Very tricky!!
Also, I AM coming to your wedding. :) Sorry I didn't get the RSVP back to you yet. I'll drop it in the mail tomorrow. Talk to you soon!!
Yeah, you aren't the only one who has felt down lately. For me, now that classes are over for the summer, I am feeling a bit better. It took a couple weeks to feel that way...
Yeah the kids and everyone just kind of lose momentum at the end of the school year... You know the end is near, so it makes it hard to stay motivated and do your best (for students and teachers both...). The freshness of the year and things to look forward to are gone.
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