The End of Catharsis

The change in tone of this blog is probably already noticeable. I'm hoping it's a permanent transformation. Last year I needed this blog as an outlet. The frustration and sense of failure I felt daily was too much to contain and I let it spill onto this "pages" of this site. Now I'm hoping to transfer stories of success and excitement.

It's not that things haven't been challenging. I certainly anticipate them to get much more difficult as the year progresses and the "honeymoon phase" officially ends. But, I don't need the blog to be about that anymore. Hopefully it will continue to serve as an accurate representation of working in a "high need" school. But I hope it also will be a tad less depressing.

I've spent the past two weeks reveling in the new found experience of, well, experience. That's not the only improvement from last year however. Having assessed my students informally and looked over their work from the past two weeks and the end of 3rd grade I'm amazed by their abilities. It's either a testament to last year's 3rd grade teachers at my school or sadly a sign of the low-performing kids who were scrapped together last year to make my class.

This year more than half of my students are reading at grade level, and all but a few are at least reading at a 3rd grade level. Last year the skills of my students were practically an inverse. I don't begrudge the experience I had last year one iota. Challenging students - academically and behaviorally - made me a much better teacher. Furthermore, I take full responsibility for the failures of last year. Still, it's nice to now I'm starting this year in a very different place. Hopefully with the lessons I've learned, I can take these kids who are already doing well (relatively) and take them to the next level.

Comments

Hugh O'Donnell said…
Looking forward to your successes, but there's nothing wrong with letting off a little steam now and then. :)

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