New Teacher Support & Development
DEVELOPING AS A PROFESSIONAL EDUCATOR
BEING TEACHER IS INCOMPARABLE!
This year will go so fast. It may not seem so looking ahead, but it will!
Glares of disbelief from teachers attending the New Teacher's Orientation in July responded to my comments. Yet, while I converse with teachers nowadays, in disbelief they share amazed. I can't believe that half the year is over? In just a few weeks, 2020 will be here!
Keeping busy seems to rush time! And busy our new teachers have been: learning, learning, and learning. Whether brand new to the teaching profession or continuing a career, every teacher has grown in becoming a professional educator. Some learned the reality of the "other side of the desk." Many learned to balance SUSD, their families, their own classes, required exams, and credentialing requirements. All discovered or were reminded afresh that being Teacher is for the valiant, that being Teacher touches lives, that being Teacher impacts the future!
In our Thursday seminar, teachers, for whom this year inaugurated their careers, articulated poetically their process of developing as a professional educator. This poem - a synthesis of two poem templates: "I AM" and "Then, Now, and Tomorrow" - comprises a line that each teacher selected from his/her poem. Their hearts speak the incomparable work they possess!
Developing as a Professional Educator
I used to think teaching was all about subject-matter;
But one day, I met Ms. P who modeled it’s all about the students.
So now I am a facilitator of growth and change.
I cry about the hardships my students endure.
I say that they just want to know I care.
I pretend that I know everything,
So I fool myself and my students into believing in me.
I dream of inspiring them to believe in themselves.
I touch their hearts with the hope they actualize self-inspiration.
I dream of applauding them at their college graduations.
I hope my students will appreciate it all one day.
Looking back and forward stirs me anew for my students’ sakes.
I feel drained, yet full.
I am Miguel’s teacher.
John Ekelund
Unlocking the Future Today!