If I Knew Then: A Letter to Me on My First Day Teaching

A letter I wrote to myself a few years ago based on this video. I recommend that you do the same - no matter if it is your first year teaching or if you are wrapping up your 25th year like me. 

Happy Summer!


Dear Rexie,

I want you to remember that there will be days when you are tired. Not just a little tired but so tired that you can cry. These days don’t define you and they usually stem from not taking the time to savor the moments. Each and every day there is something that happens in the classroom that should be celebrated and cherished.  

Working with adolescents creates a lot of highs and lows but don’t let the lows get you down. You will always want to do MORE for your kids. Tweak your lesson plans, find the just right way to connect to the non engaged student, build relationships with your students’ families, find the right instructional strategy to meet the needs of all the learners in your room, push all of your students to achieve more and the list goes on and on.

This list could run you so ragged that you will be a tired teacher crossing the finish line, aka the last day of school. By running through the school year without acknowledging that each day matters and what you do matters; you will forget why you became a teacher. Rexie, celebrate each day and reach for every opportunity to collaborate with your colleagues. This is a lesson I learned from them. They are an amazing resource that helped me become the teacher I am today.

With great love and respect,

Older and wiser Rexie

The "I Wish" Song....

This morning I was listening to one of my favorite NPR podcasts, This American Life and today's episode gave me an idea for a great writing lesson. 

 NPR: This American Life: Episode  #259 : Promised Land

In the prologue, Ira Glass explains to the listeners about when he told his sister, a film executive at Disney, that he thought the movie Snow White was old fashioned and seemed like an opera.  She corrected him and said no that what Ira was hearing was the "I Wish"song. The first song that defines the characters purpose, passion, and motivation. I had never thought of this before! He referenced quite a few examples of the first songs.

Snow White -  I'm wishing-- I'm wishing-- for the one I love--Today. I'm hoping-- I'm hoping-- and I'm dreaming of, the nice thing-- the nice thing-- you say-- you say.

Little Mermaid - I want to be where the people are. I wanna see, wanna see them dancin'. Walking around on those-- what do call 'em? Oh-- feet!

Quasimodo

Safe behind these windows and these parapets of stone. Gazing at the people down below me. All my life I watch them as I hide up here alone. Hungry for the histories they show me. All my life I wonder how it feels to pass a day. Not above them, but part of them. And out there--

Dorothy

- Somewhere over the rainbow, way up-- There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.

These songs sung by the main character could be an excellent mentor text. It made me think about using this same idea when writing a story. Why not have your students start with the idea of a song or an event that defines their character. Or if they are working on a memoir why not start in the same way. Critically analyzing the "I wish" songs of movies that your students are most likely very familiar with would be helpful in tying the same ideas to their own writing.