I just finished my lesson plan for tomorrow, have only supplies to gather for Thursday, and Friday's lesson is mostly video. It feels really good. Not in a shout-from-the-rooftops hooray! kind of way, but more like an I-am-so-grateful-to-get-to-this-point sigh of relief.
Because I thought I'd be better at this. I thought it would take 2-3 weeks to get to know my class, have a study and prep routine down, be able to keep attendance and remember to track reading and note participation and come prepared to inservice meetings. I thought I'd be able to sleep (readily and soundly) and that I'd love it every day. But it turns out I've had some rough days and nights. I didn't anticipate how much planning time and effort it would take to reconcile fun/engaging/interesting with meaningful. I have doubted myself a lot. This is week 9 and I'm just hitting my stride.
Turns out I'm not as cool as I thought.
But I'll tell you what is cool:
- The Old Testament (craziest stories in the standard works and coolest prophets ever -- Elijah and the priests of Baal? Awesome.)
- My class of 18 regulars (they're sophomores, turning 16 this year)
- Magic Squares (rhymes help you remember scripture references) Memorizing references has never been a strong point of mine, but quiz me! I can do 1/2 of them already.
- Seeing progress.
And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. (Ether 12:27)
4 comments:
I'm impressed you're hitting your stride at week nine, my stride is tucked away in 2013. I really miss it. And is the not sleeping thing stress, or being over 40, cause I can't handle it anymore!
There are days where my lesson plans just don't seem to happen. I'm nowhere near my stride, and I have to do it four times a day.
Some days I think you just have to fake it and hope the kids don't notice (though I know that some of my really smart ones do).
I forgot to mention that although it is the 9th week of class, I spent many weeks before in preparation. Pre-class hours, I would guess, easily pass 100. There's so much to consider! I really underestimated... everything. I thought a master's degree in teaching ESL and years of experience teaching in and out of the Church had given me a really strong foundation but this is kicking me around more than anything. Except for motherhood. That's a pretty big one. : )
I am sure your students have no idea you are struggling at all - which means you are doing super. Jacob is wondering what magic squares are - please share. :)
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