20 - Marking time

Being hit by a few of those "lasts" ... lately.

This is the last time I start a new series (unit) at my school. I just checked my attendance sheets and scoped out the last class that I'll teach on my last day. Get ready, kiddos! I'm just getting started. : )

96-Teachers

The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth." ~Dan Rather

In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years. ~Jacques Barzun

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. ~Donald D. Quinn

A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. ~Thomas Carruthers

A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others. ~Author Unknown

What I do..

Although what I do is classified in my contract "teaching," I think of myself as something more akin to a swim coach.  I'm not really teaching any new skills, I'm just drilling the kids in skills that they already know.  I see my job as encouraging them to use their new fledgling ability, while convincing them that the water is safe and fun.  Every once in awhile, however, I have to blow the whistle to let them know that their behavior is out of line...