![]() What? Joy? How about low energy, even boredom? (I was described as that by a student who wanted his mom to drive him further to be in my class again) Little sense of humor, heavier on disciplineĮxuding joy. Having a sense of humor it de-escalates a multitude of problems (a student getting frustrated, awkward social situations, incorrect answers, age-related silliness and off-task behaviors) Quick to laugh I know students learn more in a relaxed atmosphere Let me break it down for you: Me teaching other students last year: (I wrote about those revelations and conversations with two other teachers in Second-Decade Teacher Wisdom: It’s Really About HOW You Are) To make a long story short, a series of revelations helped me zero in on the big difference between my classroom of students and my homeschool: the version of me they got. It seemed I could bring all that to my homeschool and still, I was not a beloved teacher in my own house with my own kids as I was with others’ kids. ![]() I reviewed my ideas of what I thought made a good teacher: good lesson plans, classroom management, creativity, accurate assessment, interesting content, etc. I spent months trying to distill what was going on. Or was it the social aspect? Do I simply need at least 5 kids to re-create the magic that happens with my students in our homeschool group? So I should not hope my 3 kids, different ages, could ever be expected to get that with just me at home? (Note, they do all attend classes two days a week, so they have peer interaction and other tutors/teachers leading them.) Did all my strengths as a teacher apply to only to a larger group of students? “I could never teach my own children” “They’d not listen to me” “They don’t want to take instruction from me.”) Is this just normal, to be expected? And there’s nothing I can do about it? I’m boring because I’m mom? Why did it seem like I could teach anyone else’s students and not my own? Was there an inherent truth to that? (You hear it a lot–from people who don’t homeschool on why they don’t. (And it used to be different my boys used to enjoy our homeschool.) I counted last year as my worst year homeschooling we may have checked off all our boxes of required things, but it didn’t feel great. The only one who didn’t complain about school was the youngest, the 4/5 year old who didn’t do very much yet. Some days it was like pulling teeth to get them to do anything, let alone to enjoy it or have a good attitude. They didn’t seem to enjoy me nearly as much as my older students in the classroom. My students there show all the indications of enjoying my classes and genuinely liking me as a person.īut I also taught at home, to my own three homeschooled children, and it was not the same. I worked part-time to tutor and homeschooled students, and I have been told many times that I am great at it. Now here’s the confession: I began wondering this for the very honest reason that I saw I was NOT being a great teacher in one area of my life. How can I be a great teacher in a classroom with others’ kids but a poor teacher to my own children?īecause I felt like I was failing last year, I’ve contemplated, what is really the most important factor, the one thing that really makes a difference between a good and great teacher? I was a favorite camp counselor, a beloved student teacher, and the kind of school teacher who was used to having kids tell me I was a favorite. ![]() The weirdest part is, I’m used to being popular. Yeah, it’s saying something when you’re the least-favorite teacher in a one-room-schoolhouse kind of situation.
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