Wednesday, August 27th, 2014

Hey Folks. This is my first blog since Xanga, so I'm excited to be telling the internet how I feel again. I'm having a hard time predicting what this semester is going to be like. There are times where I seem to think it's going to be completely overwhelming, yet there are also times when I feel like I've over-hyped it. Perhaps it's just the calm before the storm? I hope not.

Anyways, I I've already gotten to know the students of the classroom quite well and they are absolute sweethearts, each and every one of them. I teach my first lesson tomorrow, and I'm really excited for it. This is the first time I've ever taught a totally pre-planned lesson, and I'm finding it to be a difficult process. Nonetheless, I'm finding that it prepares me to approach the lesson in a manner that I might normally leave untouched and it is certainly forcing me out of my comfort zone.

The lesson is on proofreading, and I hope that I can affect the students in a positive way. The may goal of my lesson is to prove that the "rules" of writing are actually quite awesome, as they are there to guide us. They are not oppressive rulers that dictate what we are allowed to say, they are merely wise words passed down by those who have said things well before us. We use commas because we need them, not because we have to. English used to be rather unregulated for these things, and it was a ton harder to read and evolved much more frequently because of it. Nowadays, the rules that make up modern spelling and grammar have allowed English to become a much more stable language than it was five hundred years ago. I hope the kids get into this.

Based on my introduction to the classroom, my goals for the coming year are as follows.

1. There are a few students struggling in the classroom, either due to disabilities or low self-confidence. I'd like to see these students continue to hang on and make it through the semester with a passing grade.

2. I'd like graduate and become a certified teacher. In order to pull this off I need to continue what I've been up to for the past few semesters. It's been a tight, busy, and stressful ride, but it the curtains are coming.

3. I'd like to build a strong relationship with my cooperating teacher. I would like to create the beginnings of a lifelong friendship this semester, one that exists outside of protocol and classroom formalities. I feel like this sort of relationship creates the best kind of learning for myself and for the students of the classroom. This sort of genuine teamwork is an ideal dynamic to me.

4. I'd like to definitively know where I stand as a literary discussion leader. I'd like to have the ability to look at a story I know and say "Yeah, my students will like this and I know they will be interested in this content." I want to be able to be more sure of the directions that will be appealing to my students ahead of time.

Best of luck to everyone else's semester!

-Brian Records