Opening Up About My Classroom

In January of 2016 I began teaching social studies and I quickly realized that I have some sort of gift or intuitive ability when it comes to teaching teenage or pre-teen children. I am proud of myself, and it feels good to be GOOD at something. But I am by no means surprised. Many of my peers from college have also gone into teaching and they all seem to have a similar gift (from what I see/hear through social media). That is definitely not a coincidence and I take pride in being a part of a new generation of incredible teachers.

I am in an interesting situation. I am finding great success in a career field that I didn’t expect to enter. A field where I feel under-appreciated by my students, I am underpaid by my district, and I work way too many hours—but also a field where I find immense joy and fulfillment. I have ample creative freedom to choose how I design my classes and my grading system so I recently began implementing both “made up” and researched methods and programs in my classroom in an effort to transform my most disengaged and under skilled students into active learners. The great thing about these methods is that ALL my students benefit.
After starting a gofundme to raise money for my programs and interventions, I realized that I had not been sharing many details about the approaches I’ve been taking or the ideas I’ve been developing. My mind is constantly devising, creating, and innovating approaches to teaching but I rarely take the time to share these approaches in writing. I would like to change that. I want to share. And I hope that others will either find inspiration and useful ideas.

These are some of the things I want to write about. Hopefully I’ll get some more writing out soon!

1. My first semester as a teacher & transitioning to a new school
2. My First Formal Observation at my current school
3. My Excellence Program
4. My After School Enrichment Program
5. Examples of activities that I use to engage my students
6. My flaws as an educator
7. The challenges of working at a “rough” or “hood” school

Iris