Reflecting on Peer Conferences

Many times I have come across somethings which makes me feel like a bad teacher. I just read Carl Anderson's Conference Are Conversations and his statement, "I spent almost all of that first year standing in front of my classroom talking at my sixth graders, not with them." The floodgates opened with memories of my first years teaching came rushing back. What a 'blah' feeling. There are times today I feel like this is still occurring in my classroom.

As I read on in Carl's article, I felt more and more encouraged about my growth as a teacher. My relationship with students have certainly deepened over the years, and I would say that conferencing with students has helped with this. There are some students where a relationship is immediately developed just because of an outgoing nature of a student, but other student sometimes don't have s whole lot they want to share with a teacher. Having conferences definitely provides opportunities to learn more about a student and what values they have. Even though I know I have grown since my first years of teaching, I would like to take more opportunities to confer and build relationships with students.

My favorite animal is a turtle and it is reflected in how I can operate. Sometimes I wish I could put life on hold for a little and go away to a peaceful cabin to process all of this. Various inspirations will strike at times, and I get excited to play with the ideas: see where curricular connections can be made, reflect on current teachings, write out units with clear scope and sequence. Currently, I am inspired by some of the things learned from this writing cohort. Establishing solid writing units for the year actually excites me. However, as soon as I leave class reality hits I feel all the other obligations take away from or complete deflate that excitement. I've thought about upcoming weekends, the next holiday weekend, or days off during the summer only to find myself at the end of a break wondering why I wasn't able to find time. I need to remember that I am human and where I spend my time is important. Even if I can't create a perfect scope and sequence, I need to remember to take away what I can, and that it's okay to let some things go. What I took away from today, and what I would like to make time to focus on are relationships.