It’s been a rough week, and I honestly found myself beginning to dread teaching my lessons, especially today’s and tomorrow’s, when there’s no test to motivate my kids. Behavioral problems have been awful this week, and just getting through my lessons has been taxing.
But then tonight, folks from the Baltimore office came up to speak to us. In timing that couldn’t possibly have been more appropriate for me, Jace Goodier, one of the corps members from ’07, spoke to us about his extremely rough first year of teaching. He told us about how the spiral took him down to verge of quitting before his professional development leader told him “Jace, you don’t look like your having fun anymore”. Eventually it dawned on him that he’s the one that decides whether it’s going to be fun or not. The quote that really stuck with me is that it’s your year to enjoy or your year to suffer. And it dawned on me that I have already fallen into the trap of defeatism and negativity, and I have been just counting off the minutes to the end of summer school. So I decided that for one last day this summer, I’m going to let it all go and try and have fun with these kids. It’s my last day to enjoy or my last day to suffer.
Alan, online. 