Three Strengths and Three Weaknesses

1) I know my content 20-questions deep. This does not in and of itself guarantee good teaching, but it helps. I have lived and breathed the language arts all my life. And because I know my content well, I have a confidence base that allows me to admit when I DON'T know something. Learning excites me. I love it when students challenge my thinking or cause me to see a text in a new way. I'm happy to say "I don't know the answer to that; let's find out."

2) I love words. From poems and palindromes to novels and neologisms, words are my playthings, my building blocks, my drugs of choice. I believe students deserve to have a teacher who loves her content and exudes that love.

3) I'm nice. I read once (or maybe 100 times) that when students enter a classroom they want to know if the teacher will like them. I will. My students know this. They don't have to wonder from one day to the next if I'll be in a good mood or crabby. I'm happy, and I'm happy they're there to learn with me.

Me. Nice.

Day 15: Name three strengths you have as an educator.

Reflection: Well, don't I sound pleased with myself? :-/ Let's keep it real. Here are three weaknesses:

1) I'm alternately all-consumed and distracted. I'm either so focused on what I'm doing that I'm oblivious to the passage of time, or so distracted I can't walk across a room without changing plans three times. 

2) I'm messy. I don't want to say disorganized because I do think I'm organized in the meta sense of the word: I get things done. But I leave a lot of flotsam and jetsam in my wake.

3) I'm over-extended. My good intentions (this blog; serving on three boards; advising the newspaper, yearbook, and pep club; mentoring; serving on DLT and TLC committees; whipping up Faculty Fun events; presenting at conferences) are paving my road to you-know-where. My reach exceeds my grasp.