Welcome to H. County High School - my new place of employment. Most recently famous for... ok, to be honest I don't live there and it seems a lot like my hometown; a small, tobacco-based town that hasn't quite figured out how to move on now that the industry's on its way out. Originally, my job there was supposed to be a librarian aide position, part time at 3 days a week. In the interview, however, I managed to talk my way into a two-day-a-week writing coach position. And that's been interesting; in fact, the whole experience has.
Favorite Quote so far: "People like to watch other people get hurt." From an essay by one of my students. He liked bullriding, so I handed him a bullriding essay prompt in which the government (don't laugh) had decided to ban bullriding because of the number of injuries. He obviously disagreed with the hypothetical decision, but one of the reasons he felt that it shouldn't be banned was the above. Afterward, we had a great time discussing japanese game shows.
Favorite Stupid Human Trick: Having a teacher finally inform me that I was trying to pull a student she didn't have that period, hearing her yell "WHO WANTS TO GO TO WRITING TUTORING?" to the entire class, and listening their responses over the phone.
Most happy educational moment: A student said "Well, how come nobody ever told me to do that before? That's easy!" I think I could have died happily, right then.
Least happy educational moment: Today. Overhead an instructor (a good teacher, too) saying to a roomful of students "when you're writing an on-demand, you do NOT have to believe what you are saying." I knew what she meant (for the purposes of the test) and I knew what she was trying to do (make it easier for them to get through on-demand writing pieces), but it still hurt to hear for me. I learned that writing game in high school, but it disappoints me that writing has become so secondary in education that we give the kids prompts they Don't care about, and then tell them to make something up in order to have some decent ideas.
Least favorite moment: Finding out that tutoring at a local school would not pay me $75 per session, but a stingy $30 instead because I'm not a certified teacher. *sigh*
1 comment:
Aw, yay Amy! Glad to hear things are going well on the career front. Things are okay here, as well. Just getting settled in and used to the routine. Hope to see more updates soon!
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