Me, me, me

I received word from my vice principal about my French AP students' scores. It was a vague description of what they accomplished: 92% (11 of 12 students) received a score of 3 or above, and 4 students earned a 4 or 5. (I say 'vague' only because I will know eventually who exactly got which score.) She thanked me and praised me, adding to her email that scores hadn't been that high since 2005.

I'll take the compliment, but it's interesting that I get all of the credit. Nevermind the students' hard work, their previous teachers, or the fact that 1/3 of my class was francophone!! Sure, thank me. ME! It's nice to be thanked.

On the other hand, if my students' scores were awful and worthy to be shamed and ridiculed, I'd be to blame, now, woudn't I? Hmmmm.

Next year, I will have zero francophones and a brand new, never before tested curriculum. The content and my teaching style will have to undergo a complete makeover (and not the fun kind). Thankfully, my school is giving me the opportunity to attend a week-long workshop starting Monday. I'm really, really looking forward to that. Even if the speaker isn't very clear or structured or enlightening, being among other teachers (as nervous or clueless as I am) and talking with them should be helpful. At the very least, I'll look around and feel pretty good about myself and my plans for the fall. I've worked for about a month now and have a pretty good collection of resources, but I'm still a little lost as to what to do with them and how to fit them within the mere 26 weeks of school before the national exam.

Matt says this: "Stop freaking out. It'll be just like ziplining. You're just going to have to jump out of that tree and free fall for a little while. Then, you'll realize 'hey, this is fun!' and then you'll fall backwards and say 'uh oh' and then you'll swing forwards and be happy again. But above all, you have to face your fears and jump."

Thanks Reverend Matt. Lovely sermon.