Back in the saddle after allowing the blog to quiesce for a few weeks. With the fall term starting up at St. Anselm’s, it’s time to start writing about teaching again.
Change is an important element in facing each new school year. Things that didn’t work the previous year have to be improved or removed, whether that is an approach to discipline or a topic or an assignment. Some topics grow stale over time, sometimes because the teacher has lost interest in them; they have to go. And sometimes it’s just important to do something new, for your sake and the sake of the students.
This is a bit of a scary thing: I spent so many years early on just trying to figure out what worked and holding on to that. What if I change things now and screw it all up? What if a class goes badly? What if a whole week is lost?
Quelle horreur! Get over it (and yourself) and do something new. You are not the pinnacle of the educational experience, no matter how good you are. You’re not risking perfection here; you are risking your pride.
So what am I doing differently this year? Continue reading Teaching Badly: Change