ravings-of-an-almost-teacher

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

one year in and the seniorities is going strong

is it possible to have senioritis for an entire two-year master's degree?

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

I ended up microdosing madness via the vampire lestat and his many adventures. shout out to Anne Rice and whatever she had going on back in the day.

genuinely can't wait to fucking lose my mind this winter break

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

Adding to this after a semester teaching high school (9th grade)

6. The queer students clock me (it's not that hard) and come to me to talk about their chosen names and their crushes etc. I don't pry, but I listen when they share important things. Queer teachers are living proof of queer futures. That's how I feel about my queer professors, and so I hope I do the same for my students.

7. The student who was picking up chairs and play fighting at the start of my placement in the school was sitting and doing his work by the end of my placement (and actively participating in activities and asking for help when he needed it!). Kids can grow and change so quickly! You can never assume what a student is capable of.

8. One of my students worked super hard to improve his academic writing in English. When he wrote a whole paper on his own (with just occasional encouragement from us teachers) I genuinely could have cried. Maybe that's dramatic, but who cares.

I want to start sharing the best moments I get from teaching (right now I'm a sub and a student teacher, depending on the time of year). In all of the chaos of this month, being an educator keeps me grounded and prevents me from giving in to despair. When you work with the future, you can't assume it's doomed. So here are some of my favorite moments from the past few months.

A first grader who was doing a math program on his iPad would punch the air and say "Yeah! I got it right!" every time he successfully answered a question. Usually it took him a few tries, but he was so excited when he would get it right.

A middle schooler who had just completed a history project on ancient China, a poster with beautiful drawings, made sure to show me (his ESL assistant teacher) because I had complimented his sketches in ESL class.

Another middle school student coming up to me after class to say that he looked forward to my class every day, and that I was the first teacher he had that made him feel safe enough to talk about his preferred name/pronouns

An elementary schooler in the before/after school kid care program asking to play catch with me every time I was subbing there, and one of the other monitors saying he usually doesn't interact with people like that. Soon after he started engaging with other kids.

A middle schooler who wasn't particularly interested in the subject I was teaching (as a leave of absence sub) still coming up to me to talk about her day and the sport she played, and then giving me a handmade gift on my last day.

There's probably more, but those are some of the moments that have stood out the most for me. The kids are alright.

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

I am she, she is me.

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

Can we talk about imposter syndrome in language education? Cuz let me know how I've been studying German for a DECADE, got a 5 on the AP exam back in high school, and aced my literary and cultural analysis class that was taught entirely in German, and I still don't think I can speak German???? I'm literally studying to be a K-12 German teacher??? how do other people handle teaching a language that you learned later on??

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

What they don't tell you is how easy it is to be a safe space for students. Like I'm talking truly bare minimum levels of empathy. If you even pay a little bit of attention to the people that your students are, if you remember just one piece of information of their lives outside of your classroom, they will be thrilled. If you just start class with a friendly attitude and a willingness to meet them where they're at and understand that we are all complex human beings with rich and often difficult lives, your students will feel safe. And when students feel safe, students can learn. Why would anyone deny them that?

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

teacher prep jargon is a nightmare for autistic teachers in training

I want to punch my screen this mandatory training video is so stupid

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

I want to start sharing the best moments I get from teaching (right now I'm a sub and a student teacher, depending on the time of year). In all of the chaos of this month, being an educator keeps me grounded and prevents me from giving in to despair. When you work with the future, you can't assume it's doomed. So here are some of my favorite moments from the past few months.

A first grader who was doing a math program on his iPad would punch the air and say "Yeah! I got it right!" every time he successfully answered a question. Usually it took him a few tries, but he was so excited when he would get it right.

A middle schooler who had just completed a history project on ancient China, a poster with beautiful drawings, made sure to show me (his ESL assistant teacher) because I had complimented his sketches in ESL class.

Another middle school student coming up to me after class to say that he looked forward to my class every day, and that I was the first teacher he had that made him feel safe enough to talk about his preferred name/pronouns

An elementary schooler in the before/after school kid care program asking to play catch with me every time I was subbing there, and one of the other monitors saying he usually doesn't interact with people like that. Soon after he started engaging with other kids.

A middle schooler who wasn't particularly interested in the subject I was teaching (as a leave of absence sub) still coming up to me to talk about her day and the sport she played, and then giving me a handmade gift on my last day.

There's probably more, but those are some of the moments that have stood out the most for me. The kids are alright.

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

why would you lie like that Google ai???

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

11. Go see Wicked Part 1 beforehand and write the paper through tears and theater kid mania (I did this last night and got a 100% grade from my professor along with a note of how it was one of the best papers she has read in her years teaching that course).

ways to write a paper without using AI

get possessed by the ghost of an prolific literary figure

play Coconut Mall Theme from Mario Kart on a loop until you ascend to a higher plane

pretend your an elven wizard chronicling major workings of the arcane arts

take a couple edibles and stay up all night writing your magnum opus

write a paragraph every time you find a relevant paper or quote and smush them together closer to the due date

go to a public library and surrender to the power of knowledge

pray to a catholic saint

cute graphic organizers

record yourself talking about the topic to your unsuspecting roommate for an hour and then just write that down

just generally find a way to gameify it or make the subject interesting to yourself and make a point that actually matters to you.

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

ways to write a paper without using AI

get possessed by the ghost of an prolific literary figure

play Coconut Mall Theme from Mario Kart on a loop until you ascend to a higher plane

pretend ur an elven wizard chronicling major workings of the arcane arts

take a couple edibles and stay up all night writing your magnum opus

write a paragraph every time you find a relevant paper or quote and smush them together closer to the due date

go to a public library and surrender to the power of knowledge

pray to a catholic saint

cute graphic organizers

record yourself talking about the topic to your unsuspecting roommate for an hour and then just write that down

just generally find a way to gameify it or make the subject interesting to yourself and make a point that actually matters to you.

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

genuinely can't wait to fucking lose my mind this winter break

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

is it possible to have senioritis for an entire two-year master's degree?

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

I may have girl bossed too hard and now I teach middle school and do grad school full time

like it keeps working out but idk man it might not

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

and suddenly the words "I don't wanna do my grad school homework!!!! :(" were coming out of my mouth

which is funny because

I literally signed up for this and nobody made me do it.

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

Help I'm girl bossing too close to the sun and might end up with a full time jobbbbb

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

opening a grammar book as a beginner: oh my god what the fuck is that opening a grammar book as an intermediate: pff. i know it all now opening a grammar book as an advanced learner: THERE'S A RULE???? i do this at random