I Love Teaching and Bulletin Boards!

Here are a few current pictures of my English classroom. Its one of my favourite places to be. Teaching rocks. I don't know why you don't all get into this profession. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely the "off" days. But, overall, I love my students and job... sometimes a little too much. It sounds pathetically cliche, but it really is incredibly rewarding when you see development and growth in a student's learning and character. It gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling when I see a student suddenly "get it". For example, today a student pops in at lunch time, while I am eating cold leftovers, and wants to chat about "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. How cool is that?!

I used to think I was the type of person who would study something in university and then, for some odd reason, the information would just vanish from my brain; however, teaching has made me realize that so much of what I have learned in my past studies is safely stored in various corners of my noggin. It really does all come back when you begin preparing lessons and take rabbit-trail tangents in the classroom. Sometimes I even shock myself. Once, while teaching a Canadian history lesson, I had this vivid memory of my old history teacher drawing a picture on the chalkboard which demonstrated a new, World War I army tactic. I can still see the stick-men climbing out of the trench and awkwardly moving through no-man's land, while artillery flew overhead in the upper realms of the chalkboard. I thought, What a random piece of information to so accurately recall from my teenage years! Up until the time a student asked me a specific question about the Viet Cong, I seriously thought I had forgotten every single detail from the ENTIRE course I took on the Vietnam War at McMaster University. But, immediately when she brought up the topic, I remembered the answer, much to my relief! I definitely don't know all the answers to the questions I receive, but sometimes certain ones do bring back those wonderful, educational memories. (As an aside, I do think bulletin boards are important for triggering ideas and creating visual imprints in students' minds. Random teacher tidbit...)

As my hubby knows, I really can go on for hours about teaching and the various challenges and joys it gives. I better cease this rambling.