Giving Thanks

I guess it's time for the obligatory Thanksgiving post. After all I have a 4 day weekend with plenty of time and energy that could be spent on lesson planning on paper work. What better way to waste time than right here on Is Our Children Learning?

I've now made it through 12 weeks of teaching. I'm thankful that I'm still doing it and that I really believe I can make it through the year. I could not be here without the support of family, friends and many, many brilliant teachers. I'm incredibly thankful for these people. I also know that it's pretty rare to have a job that challenges you constantly and offers so much room for growth and learning. I'm thankful for that.

On Wednesday I read a crappy book about the first Thanksgiving that was just the most whitewashed story of the whole tradition I could have chosen. I felt awful about that and I know it's exactly the opposite type of narrative I wanted to teach. Sometimes the safe and sanitary story is easier to teach. I hope I won't let that keep me from being the sort of teacher I set out to be- someone who challenges conventional narratives of history, challenges my students to think critically about themselves and their world and someone who helps my students grow in all subject areas while understanding that learning is more than reading, writing and arithmetic and much, much more than a couple of stupid standardized tests. I'm thankful that I am learning enough each day that hopefully I can eventually be that teacher.