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Disclaimer - We are a very dedicated and passionate group of people coming together in a workshop experience to improve our teaching and the lives of our students. The opinions we express here are our own, and not necessarily those of the institutions supporting us! Thank you for understanding.

Friday, February 17, 2012

From a Friend

In speaking classes students must be exposed to three key items:1- Form-focused instruction, that is, attention to details of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and so forth;2- meaning-focused instruction, that is , opportunities to produce meaningful spoken messages with real communicative purposes;and 3- opportunities to improve fluency. In contrast , the first steps in teaching writing skill center around the mechanics of this skill.Mechanics of writing refer to letter reorganisation, and basic rules of spelling, punctuation, and capitalisation,as well as recognition of whole sentences and paragraphs.

It seemed to come at a very opportune time. During the past couple weeks I've been asked several times about why I stay in a job that I seem to complain so much about. And honestly their questions have made me do a lot of thinking about teaching....because, yes, there are many days where I do vent....but, at the same time, there are so many rewards too.
So why do I love to teach?

So while, yes, there are the many challenges I have to face on top of all of that — complaining parents, sometimes demanding administration (who I know are primarily demanding because of what state standards demand), occasionally frustrating students, or heavy bags of schoolwork taken home each evening — the rewards still somehow outweigh the pain. If there ever comes a day when I stand in my classroom, look at the clock and wonder how many more minutes until I get to go home, I'll know that it is time to quit and look for a job elsewhere, but in the meantime, I get to spend 7 hours each day working in a job that for those 7 hours doesn't really feel like work. And that's why I love to teach

So while, yes, there are the many challenges I have to face on top of all of that — complaining parents, sometimes demanding administration (who I know are primarily demanding because of what state standards demand), occasionally frustrating students, or heavy bags of schoolwork taken home each evening — the rewards still somehow outweigh the pain. If there ever comes a day when I stand in my classroom, look at the clock and wonder how many more minutes until I get to go home, I'll know that it is time to quit and look for a job elsewhere, but in the meantime, I get to spend 7 hours each day working in a job that for those 7 hours doesn't really feel like work. And that's why I love to teach.

Maisa Abdelkader

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