What Kind of Teacher Am I?

This is a series of blog posts I hope to write over the summer to reflect on my first year as a 6th grade middle school language arts teacher.  Donalyn Miller said this week at nErDcampMI, teachers need to be reflective.  This is my attempt. 

I went to this UNconference with my teacher-friend, Kristen.  It was a six hour drive, so we had a lot of time for our own "car PD."  We talked about new ideas we wanted to add, changes we wanted to make, and basically tried to solve the world's educational problems.

During one of our conversations, we talked about the teachers who kids do not want to have.  I looked at her and said, "I don't ever want to be the teacher who kids don't want."

I have been thinking about this since our discussion.  I do not need to be the cool teacher.  I mean, I am 50+ years old for crying out loud.  Nobody's cool at 50 in the eyes of a middle schooler.

I do not have to be liked.  The world is full of people we do not like, but we all must learn to get along.

I began to think about what I want students to remember about me and the time they spent in my classroom.

She...

helped me when I was confused and 

celebrated when I finally understood

pushed me when I needed challenged and

smiled when I pushed myself 

respected me when my behavior didn't meet her expectation and

praised me when I did it right

avoided overusing the red pen and

gave me positive feedback when I wrote something well

understood when I didn't have time to read and

handed me a book that was "just for me" when I needed one

but most of all...

she cared about me when I felt no one else did