The Story Behind the Letters

Dear Students,

I believe in you, and I'm committed to serving you. I trust in you, and I ask that you trust me too.

You are listened to. You have a voice in this classroom, and I welcome your suggestions on how to be the best teacher for you.

You are cared for. You are important. You will succeed.

Love,

Ms. Gery

At the beginning of the school year, I wrote my students a letter. I wanted them to know how I felt about them, and what they could expect from me as a teacher. As the year has worn on, the letter has become a very good reminder, even on the frustrating days, of the type of teacher I'd like to be. I want to give my best to my students, to constantly improve my teaching and challenge myself so that I may improve and challenge them.

To this end, I created this blog. I hope to be able to write a quick daily letter to my students-- one they'll never see, but which will hold me accountable for my successes and failures that day, and give me a chance to reflect on how to improve the next day. I've chosen to address these letters to my students in order to remind myself of the commitments I made to them at the beginning of the year.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

First Semester Reflections

Dear students, 

 Everything about my first semester of teaching felt rushed. I accepted the job a week before I needed to report for training. In that week, I drove from my father's home in Utah down to Yuma with no set place to stay. Thank goodness for friends who let me crash! 

 During the brief training period, I tried to balance my time between completing my training assignments, finding a permanent place to stay, and preparing my classroom... and quickly found myself overwhelmed. 

 I feel as though I've been playing catch-up since then, and I worry about how it's affected you, my students; have I been adequately prepared? If I'm truthful with myself, the answer is no. No, I have not. Have I given you my best effort each day? Yes... but my "best" is lacking in more ways than I can count. 

 There were days when the classroom was disorganized, when I misplaced things and struggled to get the technology working properly. There were way too many of those days. There were days when my lesson bombed, or I had to make adjustments on the fly. There were days when my illness affected my your learning; there were even days when I lost my patience and felt like throwing up my hands.

 At no point did I feel like a bigger failure than the day MP came in for parent-teacher conferences at the end of the first quarter. She hunched in her chair, convulsing with sobs, as our team discussed her failing grades with her parents. I knew at that moment that I had failed MP as a teacher, and I felt like sobbing right along with her. 

 So yes, there were bad days. But there were also good days, when everything clicked and lots of good learning happened. There were days when you made me smile nonstop, when we all enjoyed the learning process, and when everything went smoothly. Most importantly, there was the day I got to show MP her grade for the second quarter: a B+! She lit up with joy and disbelief, and I went home feeling like a real teacher at last. 

 Sincerely, 

 Ms. Gery

 P.S. Early in the third quarter, MP got her first 100% ever on a vocabulary quiz. I didn't sob, but I did cry a little. She is currently my student of the month, and I could not possibly be more proud of her.

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Location: Yuma, AZ 85364, USA
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