Monday.

Although this first experience I am going to mention didn't occur in the classroom, it does pertain to class reading. One of the suggestions from Teaching with Love and Logic that has struck me is giving students limited autonomy: giving students free choice of equally acceptable options. I tried this method while leading children's Sunday school at my church. At the end of the hour, I asked the kids if they wanted to pick up their toys by themselves or if they wanted me to help them. Both options were fine with me. They chose for me to help them, so I did. The work was quickly completed, and all parties were happy.

Today, I assumed teaching responsibilities for my first class -- 6th period English I. Because I had spent 6th period with the Drama class last week, today was my first time meeting the students. I began class with a DOL; after allowing about 7 minutes for students to work on it, I asked for a volunteer "scribe" to man the Smartboard. As students gave their responses, I led them in connecting their correct answers with underlying grammar conventions. Following the DOL, students paired off and swapped rough drafts for peer-editing. For students who already had completed a final draft, I read their letters and gave suggestions on problems to look for as well as effective ways to correct those issues. Any time I can work with students individually, I feel like I am at my best; it's in one on one interaction that I feel most alive in the classroom.

Although I feel comfortable and competent in the classroom, there is one aspect of teaching that has begun to cause an enormous amount of stress in my life: KTIP lesson planning. I understand the need for vision, preparation, reflection, objectives, and standards; it is absolutely essential. However, the language of state standards, the litany of documents and forms, and the overall systematic and bureaucratic coldness of the system weighs heavily upon my heart and mind at all times -- in the classroom, at home, reading assignments, in bed, at church. That's not to say that the system does no good, nor that I strive to give anything but my very best; at the same time, I wonder if there is a better way: a way that "conforms no longer to the pattern of the world." I want to be transformed by the renewing of my mind and for that transformation to overflow into my teaching and the lives of my students.