Boring?

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Home : 2003 : January : 26

Boring?
By Grace

Hi there Ben,
Sorry but I am a hick from the sticks and I'm afraid I've never heard of Noam Chomsky. However I am also a teacher with nearly thirty years experience. To me teaching may be many things but boring certainly
isn't one of them.
Since I started to teach way back in the dark ages when there was no such thing as a copied worksheet, I have seen a huge change in teaching. OK some of the things you have to teach may be the same, but the challenge is to change with the times, because kids have certainly changed. my teaching now is in no way even similar to the way I used to teach. Even this far

down the line, I am still learning, still finding new ways of presenting things. That is one of the reasons I come to this site so often. There are pearls of wisdom to be found here which could change your teaching style.
You say you are bored with the work you give. Well if you are bored with it, no doubt the kids are too - so change! Look for a way to reach them. Never mind that your colleagues are feeding their kids worksheets. I'm sure it's not written in stone that you have to do the same thing.
You seem to be blaming everyone else for the fact that you are bored- parents, kids, colleagues. Don't be afraid to look closer to home.
Enthusiasm is catching so you need to get some back into your work. If you can't do it where you are, then change schools. If you can't find any, then maybe teaching isn't for you after all.
You can't expect kids to take to new ways overnight. Introduce new ways slowly while still sticking to some of the "safe" things they know.
If enthusiasm was a gift I could give you I would gladly wrap it up and mail it to you. But it's not. It comes from inside.
Whatever you decide, I wish you good luck.
Grace