Did you ever think that maybe it was you? Our enthusiasm, or lack of it, rubs off on our kids. I've been guilty of conveying my personal feelings about a subject or topic, and I've let my feelings show without much effort in covering them up.
The truth is.... some subjects are more fun to teach than others. At least for me. I plowed through diagramming sentences. It brought back too many painful memories from my school days. I put on a determined face and drug my students through the mud of placing the parts of speech on the correct line. Other teachers loved teaching sentence diagramming. They used colored markers and sentence strips. I still have boxes full of left over sentence strips and dried up markers. No matter how colorful I made it, the bottom line ... it was still boring to me. And because it was boring to me... That's right. It was boring to my students. I don't know who was happier, me or my students, when diagramming was finally (and not a minute too soon) deemed unnecessary.
In fact, writing in general has never been my thing. I spend lots of time second guessing myself and looking up rules- making sure I'm following them (or in the case of blogging- enjoying the freedom of not following them). Grading essays was sheer torture. I'm sure my students felt the same way writing them. I did try. Honest. I looked for ways that would make writing a narrative something that anyone would like to do. I tried every suggestion from experienced teachers. But the excitement was missing.
In retrospect, I realize that my lack of enthusiasm probably hurt a lot of my students. On the flip side, my enthusiasm probably engaged students that would rather sleep while the Civil War was fought. It all comes down to atmosphere. Remember the old saying, "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy?" That goes for teachers too. If we are not excited about teaching, how can our students be excited about learning?
Looking for something that your students will enjoy? While they're learning?
I love picture books - even with older students!
 |
| Hop aboard! |
 |
| Catch the magic of snowflakes! |
If you're not following my blog by email, you can catch it weekly by following my facebook page, Chocolate 4 Teachers or my Pinterest Blog Board.
Privacy Policy
This blog does not share personal information with third parties nor do I store any information about your visit to this blog other than to analyze (this blog is run by blogger, a Google company so Google analytics are used to provide me with general statistics about my blog readership) and optimize your content and reading experience through the use of cookies. This blog is published on Facebook and Pinterest sites. This blog is not responsible for their use of cookies. If you wish to turn off the use of cookies you may do so at any time through your specific browser settings. If you sign up to receive the blog by email, your email will not be added to any other mailing list or sold. It is simply used to send the blog post to your inbox. No purchases may be made from this website. In order to purchase my resources you must visit the hosting website. I am not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without my permission. This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and was last updated on August 1, 2019. If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly at kimberlyfrencken@gmail.com
No comments