ups and downs

My students wrote very formulaic 5 paragraph essays this week about their place in the family. I am going to write a blog post in the format that my students used:

Mrs. Nehs showed up at my door and asked "there are 4 students out here in the hall who claim they are with you," I look out in to the hall to see that, yes indeed, 4 of the students I was helping during my lunch hour, were standing sheepishly in the hallway. It was clear that they knew they had done something wrong. I teach Reading and writing to 130 11 and 12 year olds. Each day brings many new challenges and rewards.
Classroom/student management is one of my greatest challenges. I am constantly trying to figure out the best way to get my students to stay on task, finish their work, not throw things, not call out, not shoot each other with rubber bands, take care of the classroom, be respectful towards each other, walk in a straight line without talking. The list could go on forever. Each day I figure out new things that work and encounter new classroom management challenges.
Teaching effective lessons, aside from the classroom management side, is another one of my challenges. Some days, I feel like my students really understand what I am trying to teach them. Other days, I see blank stares and I wonder if I will ever learn to communicate in 6th grade language. I am also challenged to write engaging lessons that wont bore my students to tears. Facilitating student learning is one of my greatest challenges.
With so many challenges, one might ask, "why do you come back each day?" There are moments. There are days. THere are times when I believe that my students are really learning. That they feel respected by me. That they grasp hold of their writing goals for the year and really want to achieve them. They know that I care about them and their learning. This is true for many of my students. Knowing that I am reaching students keeps me coming back each day.
Classroom management can be very tough. Presenting material in an engaging and understandable fashion is also challenging. Changing the lives of children, no matter how clique that sounds, makes all the challenges worthwhile. Being a 6th grade teacher is the hardest thing I have ever done, but I cannot imagine myself doing anything else right now.


There it is...perhaps my sentence fluency and word choice is a little higher level than my students, but that is the format that I am teaching them to use. They are a little overwhelmed, but they are getting it.