Wednesday, June 23, 2010

It's Summer and I'm Sitting in a Classroom

As I was reading through some of the older blog posts from Squirrel Baggers United, I came across a few posts I had written about stress. And yes, this is yet another blog post about stress. You may skip if you wish.

My summer classes started this week, and my stress level has hit the roof. My brain is like, "Reading? Aaaah! Projects? Aaaah! Lesson plan? Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" It's like my brain has forgotten that I've done all this before (maybe minus these in-depth lesson plans). So brain, please just calm the heck down.

While I've been stressing, I've been thinking. The issue is that I'm now learning how to teach and being graded on it. I'm terrified that I'll not like what I'm learning, which means I won't like the content I'll be teaching as a professional, and/or that I'll get a bad grade which means I am not a good teacher now. I'd like to think I'll LOVE what I teach (even if it's grammar) and that I'm already a pretty decent teacher, although I know I have a lot to learn. I just can't stand the idea of getting a B on a lesson I've taught. So now my brain is freaking out in anticipation of any of these things happening.

I keep telling myself that once I receive a grade on my first lesson plan and lesson I actually carry out, I'll feel better. But what if I do horribly? Shut up, brain. Just shut up.

Oh, I also realized that today is the 23rd of June. Where did the month go? It's almost July. That means summer is like half over. Then it dawned on me that I'll be a teacher before long, especially if time keeps moving at such a ridiculous speed (it didn't used to go this fast, I swear). So now I'm like "I need to become a great teacher NOW. There's not much time left!"

The more I write this down, the more ridiculous I feel. Okay, so getting a B on a lesson plan isn't going to kill me. It may not even mean I'll be the world's worst teacher.

Just calm down. Sheesh.

Happy summer, everyone.

--Elie

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