Another thread got me thinking... I know all teachers want their students to remember that they cared for them, wanted them to try their best, and things like this but what do you think they will remember about you on an-I guess-personal level. Not sure if thats the right way of saying that. :lol: Or what do you specifically remember about one of your old teachers. Here is my example: When I was in 5th grade I had a teacher who looked like she had fake teeth. I will never forget that about her. I do not remember anything else but that. I remember me and a friend lied by telling her that the boys in our class were saying she had fake teeth. She was so upset it made us think that she really did. So I think my students will remember that I am a germ manic person and that I am always carrying tissues and clorox wipes. (I once went into the bathroom and sprayed lysol on the toilet and flusher..all those dirty hands touching it) Just thought this would be fun. Maybe not.:lol:
I like the thread!! Well at the end of the year I always have my students write letters to the upcoming 7th graders for next year telling them what to expect in 7th grade. Anything goes... they tell them what to be aware of in each teacher, what they will do, and experiences of being a 7th grader. I partly do this becasue I just LOVE to see their responses about me and their perspective of their year in reflection. I enjoy reading the letters so much. I pick out a few really good one (Or letters I think will successfully get a point across they should know) and read them to the new 7th graders at the beginning of the year. Most of the kids say about me: "Don't get sassy with Mrs.--- because she WILL get sassy back!!" :lol: A lot of the kids say I treat them like their moms treat them. I'm ok with that and I'm glad they can see me that way!!
My laugh can be quite (okay, very) loud and I laugh a lot--my kids will remember that. They will also remember: - that I cry every year during our Remembrance Day assembly - watching me go tubing for the first time - that if they saw me before 10:00am I had a coffee in my hand - that they always knew that I loved them dearly
I like the letter writing idea! About 6 or 7 years ago, on the last day of school, I had my students make a video for the incoming ninth graders about what to expect in my class. Unfortunately, it got lost over the summer when all of the computers in the building crashed. Most of my students said (and would probably still say) that I am a very nice teacher, but I'm also very challenging. I can live with that!
I asked my students two years ago for something that they would like to share with the pre-k teacher about k. One child piped up and said, "We say good job a lot!"
I teach freshmen boys, so I make sure to spend some time helping them become comfortable in high school. I talk not only about homework, time management, and doing your best, but also about how to "fit in" to high school. We discuss how to go about asking a date to homecoming, how to take semester exams, and other things they might not have experienced in grammar school. I hear this every year, which I love: "Ms. _____ helps us become teenagers." They also tell people I'm funny (in a "corny" old-person way!) and that I'm like their moms. *I forgot my newer favorite; they make fun of my Skechers Shape-ups, because when they're acting up, I laughingly threaten to throw a shoe at their heads.
A former student of mine recently told my father that they were all terrified of me :lol:. Now, before you start throwing the rotten veggies, this was a good thing. I worked in a very rough school. The students weren't afraid in a bad way. They were afraid to act up in my class. The funny thing is, that in all the time I taught in that school, I only ever raised my voice twice. Once was the time I had driven my mother's van to work and it was vandalized, and the other time when a student passed out (and nearly died) and had to be resuscitated in my homeroom. If the one student I've heard from is to be believed, my students remember me as tough but respectful. They remember me as a slave driver who knew when it was time to have fun. And, the comment that made it all worth every moment of stress I ever had in the classroom: at least one young man remembers me as the teacher who pushed him to be what he thought he couldn't be, who never gave up on him, and gave him the skills, the confidence, and the self-respect to graduate from high school and get into a first class university, which he is starting this fall on a full, academic scholarship.
I wear a dress or skirt to work almost every day. My students always comment on it- its cute. If nothing else they'll remember me as "dress lady" haha. On a more serious note, if nothing else I'd like them to remember that I believed in them.
You want to know what is so funny about this. Well I remember having a teacher who would do the same thing in high school. I would always think "hey he is losing it". Now I do the SAME thing. Or I start something only to have something else I think of to do that I leave what I started and the cycle continues. I end of finishing the stuff I started but this is one main reason why I put things down and lose them.
