Believe it or not, it is good to be back. For the past six weeks I have been on paternity leave which, for reasons I won't share here, was much needed.
I was a little nervous to come back to class, because I wondered how students would receive me. Would they be upset that they had their mean teacher back? Would I be disappointed by their work ethic while I was away? How would I get along with the new students I have this trimester?
Though these questions swirled in my mind, I found that most of my students missed me as much as I missed them. This is a great feeling. But, I knew it was also time to get back to the rigorous work they were accustomed to before I left.
I learned that students have a better perception of their motivation in class than I had previously thought. Those who were challenged by my absence recognized they had themselves to blame and, in the end, I learned not to worry too much about their learning growth while I was away.
We talked about failure and personal goals - of which are individual expectations. A failure to some may feel like scoring an A-, where others actually fail, but it doesn't faze them. I learned that we grow based on our expectations of ourselves. It reminds me of a TED talk by Alain de Botton titled, "A kinder, gentler philosophy of success" where he shares that just because we fail at times it doesn't make us failures.
The idea is one that I will have to keep in mind throughout my life, because though I have failed and will continue to fail, it does not necessarily mark me as a failure if I continue to strive to improve.
I was a little nervous to come back to class, because I wondered how students would receive me. Would they be upset that they had their mean teacher back? Would I be disappointed by their work ethic while I was away? How would I get along with the new students I have this trimester?
Though these questions swirled in my mind, I found that most of my students missed me as much as I missed them. This is a great feeling. But, I knew it was also time to get back to the rigorous work they were accustomed to before I left.
I learned that students have a better perception of their motivation in class than I had previously thought. Those who were challenged by my absence recognized they had themselves to blame and, in the end, I learned not to worry too much about their learning growth while I was away.
We talked about failure and personal goals - of which are individual expectations. A failure to some may feel like scoring an A-, where others actually fail, but it doesn't faze them. I learned that we grow based on our expectations of ourselves. It reminds me of a TED talk by Alain de Botton titled, "A kinder, gentler philosophy of success" where he shares that just because we fail at times it doesn't make us failures.
The idea is one that I will have to keep in mind throughout my life, because though I have failed and will continue to fail, it does not necessarily mark me as a failure if I continue to strive to improve.