New teachers are ready for winter break
The Chronicle has a nice story on two first-year, Houston teachers and how they are adjusting to the demands of teaching:
Now they understand why teachers covet their two-week winter break.
Halfway through their first year as Houston teachers, Daryl Grantham and Leonardo Elvikas have been worn down by 12-hour days, chatty students, night college and, in Grantham's case, a newborn daughter.
"I need to recuperate, lick my battle wounds, plan and get ready for Round 2," said Grantham, an eighth-grade science teacher at Pin Oak Middle School in Bellaire.
[snip]
To gauge how Grantham's life has changed since the school year began in August, look at his waistline.
"When I first started, I was about 260. I'm down to 225," he said while grading papers minutes before the first bell on a recent morning. "The teacher down the hall calls it the ACP (Alternative Certification Program) diet. I call it the teaching diet."
Grantham said he can count on one hand the number of times he's eaten lunch since coming to Pin Oak. Instead, he spends his lunch period grading and preparing lesson plans.
Grantham's classroom also has undergone a transformation since the start of the year. Lab tables that once were crammed together to seat groups of eight students are now separated for no more than four.
"Eight to a table tended to lead to too much conversation," Grantham said.
Grantham, a former University of Houston football player, puts on his game face when the bell rings, sending teenagers streaming toward their lockers.
"Here comes the herd," he said.
The whole story is a great read.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/19/04 08:32 AM | Print |
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