The New School Year is Upon Us

Oh, how I love the first day of school. The excitement, the new teacher, the fellow classmates. Now my excitement is getting new students. In a few weeks, I will start my graduate courses at Marylhurst soon. Learning, being in the classrooms, collaborating with fellow cohort mates, etc. My orientation is on Sept. 22nd. They will also feed us dinner. So sweet! MU is a better school for me. I know they will give me a qualified education, good training and a supportive team of people helping me reach my goals as an elementary teacher. I've been working out in the real world. My real world experiences will be a beneficial asset for my grad school studies. Anyways, the first day back at work will be next Tuesday afternoon. Yep, I am on my fifth year at the after school program.

Moving on...I went to see my former teachers at W.E.S. They couldn't placed me right away. But I brought my class photos which helped jogg their memories. They remembered me as a shy, quiet and sensitive child. One of them said that I was a tiny little thing who hankered down/be inward. Well, I was a very shy student. In some ways, I'm still shy, well in big social functions and unfamiliar settings.

My kindergarten teacher, Ms. Smith is teaching kindergarten. At one point, she taught first grade for a couple years like a few years ago. My first grade teacher, Mr. Aase is now teaching 3rd grade. Wow, he has changed. He is no longer that young teacher I remembered. At that time, he was in his 3rd year teaching at W.E.S. He must have been in his early 30s. I found out that he has a daughter one year younger than me. Now he looks like a typical middle age man. But he still have his youthful joy in teaching children. My second grade teacher, Teresa Doss is now teaching kindergarten. She might be a K-1 combined classroom if the first grade student population increases. She is going to retire in 2 years. I can't believe she is close to retirement age. She looks too young to retire but she said she's 60 now.

Those three teachers are actually one of the oldest at Woodstock currently. Though, Ms. Smith and Ms. Doss started at Woodstock close to the same time and they were there a year or two longer than Mr. Aase. You know, it's weird for me to call them by their first names. Did you ever see any of your former elementary teachers and call them by their first names? It's just a weird feeling. I keep call them Mr. and Ms. I found out one of my former teacher's daughter is teaching at an elementary school of N.Clackamas S.D. Anyways, my former teachers were happy to hear that I want to get into the teaching field. They probably was thinking, "Wow, my former shy and quiet student is going to be a teacher. Look how she blossom over the years."

So yeah, I passed by the Chinese teachers in the hallways. (W.E.S. has a Chinese immersion program since '99, I believe.) As I was leaving Mr. Aase's classroom, someone said hi to me. Next door is this Chinese teacher who will be teaching 5th grade. She is really pregnant. I asked her if she needed some help. Her EA was out of the room at this point. She said that she really wanted to hanged up some Chinese characters on the walls. I said, "I'll be happy to help."

She was like, "No, no. You must be busy." I responded that I was happy to help her. So I helped her hanged the characters up and even did a simple chore. I talked with her. This school year is her first year teaching at W.E.S. I told her that she will enjoy the school environment because the staff there is special. Well, I don't really know all the current staff. But since my former teachers are still there, I know the school is in good hands. Back to the Chinese teacher, she thought I was a teacher. That's so funny. Anyways, she already feel grateful to have Mr. Aase as the next door teacher. He helps her a lot.

Here's a fun fact I learned from reading the display case, the last eight grade classed graduated from W.E.S. in 1986. That was just 2 years before I enrolled there as a kinder. I forget that W.E.S. was a K-8 school back in the day. W.E.S. is the oldest elementary school in the PPS system. It was built in 1910-11. They did celebrate the 100th b-day at the end of last Spring. I wanted to go but I was busy that day. It would have been fun to meet up with any alumni that I went to school with. But probably the alumni who went was much older than me. By the way, Ms. Doss taught the daughter one of my former classmates like a year ago or so.

There Will Never Be a Shortage of Love

The MAT program starts in late September. I am looking forward to get back to school and obtain my teaching license. It has been a long, hard road getting to this point in my life. When I left the WOU ed program about 4 1/2 years ago, I was heartbroken and depressed. I know God has a plan for me. He has given me determination to continue on with my dreams of becoming a school teacher. It's his power that keeps me going. If I had it my way, I would have given up my dreams and continue to live life miserably.

Here are two good resource books for new and veteran teachers:
1.The First Days of School:How to be an Effective Teacher by Harry K.Wong & Rosemary T. Wong. This book was used for my classroom management class at WOU.

This book is great for K-12 teachers, college professor and any type of educator. This book explain the ways how to prepare and set up your classroom. In the ed program, they don't teach you how to prepare for the teacher planning days before school starts and the first few weeks of school. The first 3 weeks of school sets the tune in how you want the classroom running. You probably won't agree to everything in the book. But there are some helpful tips and strategies. Though, use what works for you and your students.

2.The Nitty-Gritty Classroom and Behavior Management Resource:Strategies, Reproducibles and Tips for Teachers by Belinda Christian Tetteris.

This book is written by a real classroom teacher from Maryland. The advice and tips in the book are easy to read and quite practical. The book covers teaching in an elementary classroom. But there are tips and strategies in this book can be valuable for immediate and advanced grade levels. Ms. Tetteris said, "Know that you are unique, and with that uniqueness you will teach using methods that are best for you and your students, so never compare yourself to the teacher next door. There are 101 ways to teach the same objective, so find the way that is best for you and your group of students." A retired elementary teacher, I know, gave me this book as a gift a few years ago.

I hope these neat resource books are useful to you for your classroom. Both books are written by real teachers. I like to finish off this blog with an encouraging poem for the teachers. This poem comes out of The First Days of School book. Please carry these lovely thoughts into the new school year.

There Will Never Be a Shortage of Love
By Harry and Rosemary Wong

Love is the reason for teaching.
It cost nothing, yet it is the most precious thing
one can possess.
The more we give, the more it is returned.
It heals and protects,
soothes and strengthens.
Love has other names, such as
forgiveness...
tolerance...
mercy...
encouragement...
aid...
sympathy...
affection...
friendliness...
and cheer.
No matter how much love we give to others,
more rushes in to take its place.
It is, really, "the gift that keeps on giving."
Give love in abundance--
every day.