Summer's Over, Back to School...
Here we are, a month after school has started up again this fall. My first month at a new school (my second new school in as many years) and I reflect upon starting this new experience and reminding myself why I chose to become a teacher.
As Sam Kinison (left) and Rodney Dangerfield (right) show in Back to School (1986) as the "impassioned instructor" and "confused student", respectively, there is a reason for doing what we do. At the beginning of this past summer I departed Brook Forest Elementary with my future as a slight question mark. I had been hired at the beginning of the previous school year to start a new STEM program at an elementary school, and I had left a middle school just previous to that where I was teaching STEAM subjects, specifically Animation/Video and Robotics, but I was looking for a change of venue closer to home. When I took the job at Brook Forest Elementary in Oak Brook, I felt a sense of refreshment, and I took to the position with vigor. K-5 was a new challenge for me, one I welcomed but I do have to admit I struggled with, mostly in the very young grades. Given that, as well as the fact that low incoming population numbers would mean that myself and several other teachers would be let go, including some with tenure, I would be moving on again.
My future was not a question mark for long, though, because early on the past summer I became part of the team at Indian Trail Junior High in Addison, Illinois, close to home (10 minute drive, 20 minute bike ride), and back in a grade level where I have had previous success. And success is what I have been experiencing this first month of school. Now I teach Coding/STEM to 7th and 8th graders, and coding is something I've been teaching part time at Triton College for the past 11 years as well. Along with another colleague who also teaches coding to other sections of 6th and 7th graders, I'm in a position to develop curriculum in a new subject area to this school. My experience with teaching coding at the elementary and college levels and also in my previous experience doing coding in the corporate world in my previous career as a graphic and web designer means I can bring my new students some enriching experiences with real world relevance. Already my students have been using Code.org to create images and games, and now some are moving on to using CodeCombat.com and KhanAcademy.org to learn JavaScript. By next month I plan on teaching some web design using HTML and CSS, also through Khan Academy.
Now that I am back in my comfort zone, both subject matter-wise and grade level-wise, I feel like Sam Kinison in that scene, passionate for my subject and for my classes - "Say it, SAY IT!" - and it is my job to help students not feel confused like Rodney Dangerfield so that they say, "Good teacher. He really seems to care," but don't say, "About what I have no idea..." :)
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| Image property of Metro Goldwyn Mayer and posted by TWEB |
As Sam Kinison (left) and Rodney Dangerfield (right) show in Back to School (1986) as the "impassioned instructor" and "confused student", respectively, there is a reason for doing what we do. At the beginning of this past summer I departed Brook Forest Elementary with my future as a slight question mark. I had been hired at the beginning of the previous school year to start a new STEM program at an elementary school, and I had left a middle school just previous to that where I was teaching STEAM subjects, specifically Animation/Video and Robotics, but I was looking for a change of venue closer to home. When I took the job at Brook Forest Elementary in Oak Brook, I felt a sense of refreshment, and I took to the position with vigor. K-5 was a new challenge for me, one I welcomed but I do have to admit I struggled with, mostly in the very young grades. Given that, as well as the fact that low incoming population numbers would mean that myself and several other teachers would be let go, including some with tenure, I would be moving on again.
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| Image found at Blog da Paroquia de Apodi |
My future was not a question mark for long, though, because early on the past summer I became part of the team at Indian Trail Junior High in Addison, Illinois, close to home (10 minute drive, 20 minute bike ride), and back in a grade level where I have had previous success. And success is what I have been experiencing this first month of school. Now I teach Coding/STEM to 7th and 8th graders, and coding is something I've been teaching part time at Triton College for the past 11 years as well. Along with another colleague who also teaches coding to other sections of 6th and 7th graders, I'm in a position to develop curriculum in a new subject area to this school. My experience with teaching coding at the elementary and college levels and also in my previous experience doing coding in the corporate world in my previous career as a graphic and web designer means I can bring my new students some enriching experiences with real world relevance. Already my students have been using Code.org to create images and games, and now some are moving on to using CodeCombat.com and KhanAcademy.org to learn JavaScript. By next month I plan on teaching some web design using HTML and CSS, also through Khan Academy.
Now that I am back in my comfort zone, both subject matter-wise and grade level-wise, I feel like Sam Kinison in that scene, passionate for my subject and for my classes - "Say it, SAY IT!" - and it is my job to help students not feel confused like Rodney Dangerfield so that they say, "Good teacher. He really seems to care," but don't say, "About what I have no idea..." :)
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