Celebrating Failure in Rm 613

A new job means changes: new colleagues, new classroom, new students, new way of doing things. I knew Minarets High School was different, but that is an understatement. You don't know different until you have experienced full on #mustangpride and after my first two weeks at Minarets I believe I'm finally overcoming my culture shock. The entire school culture is based around one thing: the students. Its not about test scores, learning strategies, or convenience; its about doing what is best for the students. I didn't think that this would be such a shock to me, but it is truly something amazing to see an entire campus that is focused on the needs and wants of the students. Because students have a strong voice in the school, they have completely different behaviors. For starters, they are incredibly open and friendly. It must be of the confidence of feeling valued that they are so willing to hug you and tell you everything about themselves or even participate in a dance p...

Last week I was at one of my favorite places in the world: Target. As I was checking out, the cashier and I were discussing how crowded it was because of Back to School shopping and how some schools, including her's, were starting next week. Naturally, I mentioned that I was teacher and starting work in two weeks. Then I got the 'look , ' the ' you can't possibly be old enough to be a teacher' look .  After a brief second:"Oh, are you starting your first year?" "On no, I'm going into my third." This conversation, whether fortunately or unfortunately, happens quite frequently because of my young age and my very young appearance. While these conversations are humorous to me, my young age and appearance did affect me in my first two years of teaching, especially with my relationship to my students. Since I could easily go under cover as a high school student, I have always made great efforts to create a clear barrier between the students ...