When I think about all the awesome activities that schools provide I scarcely think of the academic programs. I think about the music class, the students who work out at lunch, the debate club, the students union, the Christian groups, the GLBT support groups and so many more clubs that teach students the value of social networking outside the classroom.
Spending a whole lot of extra time at the school doing extracurricular activities also promotes those precious positive relationships with students that we covet so much. If students know that we are putting in extra effort to be involved with their lives then they are going to be more cooperative when it comes to the classroom. As a bonus, this gives us the opportunity as teachers to converse with the students in a manner that I believe is more human than a strictly teacher-focused classroom could ever provide.
I think I believe more in working in an environment where I can fully immerse myself in the atmosphere, and that might mean making friends with my students. I've been warned about taking hours and hours out of my life for this job and never balancing my work life with my social life but I have trouble thinking about work in any other way. Why shouldn't my work be a big part of my life? It is for everyone else. I don't think I could work somewhere very long where I wasn't getting up every morning and saying "man I love my job, lets go spend another day with my friends today!"
No comments:
Post a Comment