The Learning Curve of The World

First Day of School - 4th Year of Teaching

I am finally over being an "EYE Teacher" now that I have taught over three years. Last spring,  I found out I had to take the Praxis or my contract would still be "At Will." Are you kidding me? I worked so hard at an older age to get where I am at. So.....amid helping my AP kids study for the AP Lit exam, testing my 11th graders with the new SAGE test, fighting end of year "get me out of here, I want summer already," I had to study! Studying for this exam was really hard. This exam is about all the Learning Theories out there, from Dewey to Skinner to Bloom. I literally would study every night for about two hours, and I did this for about ten days. Studying is annoying. Studying is like cleaning your garage, and while you are cleaning your garage, you are frantically trying to rack your brain of where you left something.

I had to take this test on Memorial Day weekend. And I had to drive to Cedar because I had signed up late, and there were not any spots left in the St. George locations. I arose at 5:30, left at 6:00 and got there around 7:00. I drove around, and around. The GPS location WAS the campus. I finally parked my car, and started walking around to see if I could find someone to help me find this testing center. There was literally no one around, and I was starting to get worried. I thought that I would have twenty minutes to look over my notes, but no, now it was 7:20, and they advise you that you need to check in thirty minutes early. I was starting to panic. I was praying, "I need help, please!"

Then, I see a man, no--a young man. He is far away, but I start to run. I notice he has a lanyard on, and looks like a student janitor. And he is... In fact, he said that he did not know why, but he had decided to walk over to the building where I found him to check on the doors. I told him how glad I was. The testing center was two buildings over, and we had to wind down some stairs to the basement. I don't think that I would have found it by myself. Thank you, thank you!

The waiting area had twenty or so people waiting. Most of them had signed in. Testing is an interesting task. Most of the time, if you are prepared, then you will do great. But there are times when you feel like you studied, but you have heard so many stories of those who had to take it more than once, that you have these doubts. Mr. Doubt creeps in and you have this little worry voice wondering if you studied the right information. Then you have a question that has two answers that both seem right, and you fake it. You just finally pick one, and hope for the best.

So, after taking the test, and five days later, fly to London/Paris and back, and then wait twenty days for results -- I PASSED. Whew.

But I have digressed. How was my first day back? Well, I feel like after our faculty meetings, department meetings, AP meetings, that it is hard to focus on the joy of teaching because we sometimes have to worry about numbers, statistics, high scores, better scores. All the new units that I have prepared this summer, the new books I read, I start to second guess what I am supposed to focus on the most.

We had fifteen minute classes today, and met all our students. You can tell quite a bit about someone by just watching. For instance, a student walks in by himself. Sits by himself, and doesn't talk to anyone. Others walk in with their friends, laughing, and joking. But for the most part, students are nice to each other. They look out for each other. As the days go by, we start having a learning community. Shy students start to trust their peers or their neighbors.

And so, this learning community begins. I am the advocate, the supporter, the guide, the teacher through this maze of common core, SAGey, argumentative trail to get to the highest point on the learning curve of the world.