When I initially found out I would be teaching freshmen, I gulped audibly. My palms beaded up with sweat and my face felt hot. Not only are freshmen somewhere around fourteen years old (in dangerously close proximity to the purgatory of Middle School), but I also felt some strange weight of helplessness. I assumed that the glory and the life changing and the truths and verities of American Lit came later in the high school process. While all of these things are most decidedly true, I'm starting to find a great deal of comfort in being a teacher of freshmen.
Being green with inexperience, high school is once again terrifying. I don't know anybody’s name, I don't know where the band room is, and I don't know who can fix your broken locker. Here’s the thing, though: freshmen don’t know anything either. So I share the boat with these folks who were born after Kurt Cobain died. I spend my days with these people to whom Zach Morris is a stranger. So far, so good.
6 comments:
What an adventure...
if you continue this, it would be a great debut novel, ala nick hornby
Haha... I feel your pain. Most of my students are freshman as well. It is interesting how young they are and how they know just as much (or even less) than you do about the school. Good luck! I know you're a good teacher!
You students are lucky. I failed 2 classes my freshman year because my teachers didn't care that I was completely lost in the new experience. You have a big opportunity to set the ball in motion. You get to make the assist, some upperclassmen educator will score the point that would not have been scored without you.
Who is Zach Morris? Kidding.
I heard that if you stab a student on the first day you won't become another teacher's "bitch".
I just heard that somewhere.
Hey Christian! This is great, I look forward to many more posts about the insanity of working with kids. I remember the horrid feeling of age when I quoted Bel Biv Devoe to the Cornerstone kids and got blanks looks that say "I'm a little embarrassed for you right now." I imagine you are a great teacher, so glad you got there!
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