In-Service, Out-of-Mind
4 Comments Published by Jason on Monday, August 07, 2006 at 8/07/2006 09:28:00 PM.
I would've posted something last week, but in-service pretty well attenuated my brain power. When I was a high school student, I never realized all the non-teaching responsibilities of teaching. I just figured my teachers prepared lessons, graded exams and papers, and called it a day. Occasionally one of them would mention something in passing about in-service, but he or she never really elaborated on it. Now that I've been through my fair share of in-service time, I realize why my teachers refrained from speaking about it--it's too painful. It's the pedagogical equivalent of a disquieting war memory.
Okay, that's more than just a wee bit hyperbolic. It's better to compare in-service to dental work--it's helpful but not necessarily pleasant . Exacerbating the problem is that in-service is the week in which I try to reacclimate myself to getting up at the crack of dawn, so it's quite a challenge to listen to a series of presentations while fending off sleep.
However, in-service to this point (it started last Tuesday for me--new teacher training--and ends Wednesday) has had some bright spots, with the foremost being that I've had a chance to meet a lot of the faculty. Having grown accustomed to my colleagues in Austin, it's a bit peculiar to be working with a different faculty, but everyone has been quite amiable and helpful, and I can tell they are genuinely Christ-minded people, which I expected but appreciate immensely just the same. Now if Friday would just get here so I could teach some students.
Okay, that's more than just a wee bit hyperbolic. It's better to compare in-service to dental work--it's helpful but not necessarily pleasant . Exacerbating the problem is that in-service is the week in which I try to reacclimate myself to getting up at the crack of dawn, so it's quite a challenge to listen to a series of presentations while fending off sleep.
However, in-service to this point (it started last Tuesday for me--new teacher training--and ends Wednesday) has had some bright spots, with the foremost being that I've had a chance to meet a lot of the faculty. Having grown accustomed to my colleagues in Austin, it's a bit peculiar to be working with a different faculty, but everyone has been quite amiable and helpful, and I can tell they are genuinely Christ-minded people, which I expected but appreciate immensely just the same. Now if Friday would just get here so I could teach some students.
Wow - you're actually looking forward to the students? Well, I guess it's because you don't know them yet. I'm giving you two weeks. :) Hope it's terrific.
I'm looking forward to teaching a different age group as well as covering some new material.
When I have to grade a glut of research papers, then I probably won't have quite the same enthusiasm;)
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