Time flies when you’re dealing with a bunch of unruly teenagers—and it really has flown by these past 10 years, now that I’ve officially completed my first decade of teaching. I’m ending this school year a bit early due to my baby’s expected arrival next week (although it’s up to the baby when he pops out). I started the year in special education, but due to changing enrollment projections, I was quickly reassigned to teach 4 periods of US history, and 2 periods of 8th grade science. It felt a bit like a last-minute betrayal, because I was specifically promised all history after rejecting a high school transfer opportunity. Sadness.
Maybe I’m just getting older, but my patience has been wearing thinner when it comes to student behavior. Or maybe it’s the absurd class sizes—up to 40 students in one room. I’m not entirely sure I can make it another 28 years if conditions stay the same, but there are still things that keep me motivated and moving forward. I would say 85% of the kids are pretty good and are always doing the right thing with a certain amount of interventions needed. 5% of the students are quite difficult (mostly due to lack of parental involvement) and the other 10% just seem to follow wherever the wind blows on a given day. Some days I wonder if the fight against the 15% is worth it. Prior to taking my annual “class pictures”, which I’ve taken since my student teaching days, a student bought a patriotic flag printed with my face on it. How American, and yet potentially a jumpscare for many.
History continues to be a subject I enjoy teaching, thanks to the built-in structure and the depth of content. Even though it’s U.S. history—which I’m especially passionate about as americanjohn500—I still prefer the 7th grade curriculum for its flexibility and the opportunity to explore different countries and cultures. Teaching 8th grade science, on the other hand, felt mostly uninspiring. I didn’t have much passion for the subject, although my favorite unit was genetics because it felt personally relevant. I even had students draw pictures of what my future kids might look like based on genetics—and let’s just say, most of those offspring had some very large foreheads.
One of the challenges of teaching both subjects was having some of the same students twice in one day. Let’s just say, certain classroom management tactics lose their effectiveness the second time around. I’m hopeful this dual-subject setup is just a one-time thing. As for next year, I’m on the surplus list, so I have no idea where I’ll end up or what I’ll be teaching—but that’s okay. My priorities will shift next week when baby Kai arrives.
Still, it felt great to be back in my own classroom again, fully in control of my lesson plans and student activities. While science may have been a bit half-assed I remained fully committed to teaching history as well as I could. Throughout the year, I continued creating Pokémon cards and writing letters to my students—small things that helped keep the classroom experience meaningful.
Outside the classroom, Builder’s Club, Dale Senate, and random field trips gave me more opportunities than ever to connect with students. It’s striking how different kids can be outside the classroom environment. I enjoyed all the field trips – which included Cal State Long Beach, Fullerton College, volunteering at Foster Love again, volunteering at the OC Food Bank, Cal State Fullerton (with free boba), the Anaheim Water Facilities (with the Dale Senate), a Choir Concert, and of course the Ropes Course twice (which I actually went on this time, despite initial hesistancy).
The video created in the Dale Senate captured the heart civic learning efforts across the school. It didn’t win any awards, but I’m still incredibly proud of how it turned out.
Assuming I’m still at Dale next year, I’ll keep all the same commitments. Gotta make sure baby Kai is fed after all. Just one more addition to the list of course in the form of history department chair. I’m not quite sure I’ll be able to do a good of a job as my predecessor, but I’ll have to give it my all.
I’m not sure how being a parent will affect my teaching in the future. Will I be able to still have the stamina and energy to have fun lessons? Will I phone it in? Will I stop writing letters to all my students? Only time will tell, but all I know is I’m happy to end this year early with my sanity still intact.
