http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:53:14 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/25/112400.php#comment-705630 I have been debating whether or not I should go into teaching i've been thinking about i for a whole year. Today, I googled the question "should i teach?" and you're blog popped up. I received an answer. Although teaching has it's negative points, i believe your description is true and refreshing. Thank you for being honest and giving me a heads up as I continue the path to teaching! I agree with the previous comment. You should write a book if you haven't already:) 705630@blogcritics.org Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:53:14 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/25/112400.php#comment-703042 I am currently going to school to become a teacher. I have encountered some difficult times that have made me second guess my decision. I've read books that are supposed to inspire me to become a teacher but they've achieved only the opposite. They encourage teachers to become revolutionists and to fight the system. That is not my intentions and your words have helped to light the flame under my feet again. I appreciate your honesty and your writing style. You should write a book... Thank you! 703042@blogcritics.org Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:57:06 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/25/112400.php#comment-684022 Thanks Brenda. I just re-read it, and I wouldn't change what I wrote. I'm in my tenth year now, and I still like it (and suffer with it at times). People tend to see substitute teaching as something negative. I think we can all remember when we had a sub in one of our classes--and a lot of kids planned on taking advantage. While I did have some tough subbing experiences before I became a teacher (and I still sub now and then during my planning period), I also had some great experiences. Even some of the bad ones are memorable. I once subbed for a special ed. teacher at a middle school. In one class, I saw that she had three students. "Three students," I thought, "that's going to be easy." I was mistaken. The three students, Larry, Willie and Joe (sounds oddly like the Three Stooges), were the most foul-mouthed, delinquent seventh graders I have ever seen. They had to be escorted by a teacher from class to class. I was told to call immediately to call for help if they gave me any trouble. As soon as the escorting teacher left the room, these three kids start putting swear words together in combinations that I had never heard before. One of the kids walked right up to the window, picked up a book and threw it out the window. I didn't call for help. I was too stubborn. So, I did my best, and by the end of the hour, I had managed to get the kids to sit at the table and talk a bit about the assignment that they had. Nothing else was thrown out the window that day. I was shaken and drained after that one class period, but I felt a degree of success. That was my toughest substitute teaching experience. A more positive experience came at another middle school, where I subbed for a music teacher. She had left me pages and pages of typed, single-spaced notes and instructions. It was ridiculous. I couldn't even finish reading them before class started. Before I knew it, I found myself in front of an orchestra of about twenty five girls, conducting them as they played through several pieces of music that they were working on. I had no experience in conducting an orchestra--only my own experiences as a choir student in junior high school. That didn't stop me, and while I made some mistakes (there's nothing quite like a group of twenty five middle school girls simultaneously getting pissed off at you for messing up on telling the bases when to come in), it was a great time for me. I don't think I'll ever get an opportunity to conduct an orchestra again. 684022@blogcritics.org Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:59:59 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/25/112400.php#comment-683834 I know that you wrote this forever ago, but I want to say thanks for writing it. It has helped tremendously, and I will make arrangements to sub:) 683834@blogcritics.org Sun, 30 Dec 2007 11:58:34 EST