It has been just over a month since I began my internship. Time is flying by pretty quickly to say the least. It feels as though each week is going by a little quicker than the next. Within 3 weeks, I’ll be in the notorious 3-week block. It is notorious among education students as it is the full-time portion of one’s internship where four classes are being taught in the day for three weeks straight. When it comes down to it, three weeks is not particularly a big deal for any teacher as they teach four classes every work day for year after year, until they get sick/bored/tired/jaded/convicted, and then they quit/get fired. For an intern, three weeks of being in constant go mode can be pretty stressful. I could chalk this up to the amount of work being brought home, the lack of time to prepare for tomorrow’s class, having to teach a class that one is not comfortable with… There are a variety of reasons.
I am currently teaching two classes a day. That will change tomorrow when I pick up an english language arts 20 class. This will most likely be the class I feel most uncomfortable with. I actually had a dream last night about getting into a fight with one of the students from this class. It’s obviously pressing on my subconscious. I think why this class will be the most difficult is because the kids are a little slower and uninterested than one would like, I’m not particularly resourceful when it comes to ELA, and I will be doing a novel study of a book that was published 50 years ago.
Seriously, I have no issue with looking back on our culture’s past to see where we’ve come from and learn how we’ve grown. But grade 11s, as far as I know, have no regard for the 1960’s way of life. At least not many of them. I love how there is this worldwide sort of “movement” that is starting with regards to education and how it must be brought up to a 21st century standard. This is evident even in our school because the video I posted below is from the same speaker as was presented in a number of our staff meetings this year, Sir Ken Robinson. I love this, and the fact that we’re trying to think progressively, or outside the box if you will, on how we can reform/revolutionize our education system. I love that this is all supposedly happening in the midst of me preparing to teaching a 50 year old book to students who were born at the end of the 2nd millennium.
So on that note, I will not be doing said book that was published 50 years ago. Instead, I will do a novel study on teen love and pregnancy. My only problem is that I cannot seem to find any resources on the web for it. The book’s called “Dear Nobody.” Got anything for me?
