My First Meme Ever (I Feel Cool)

I have arrived!! I got tagged by hipteacher!!! (I wish I could have made her name link to her blog page, but I haven’t learned how to do that yet…I’m not THAT cool…anyone care to educate me on that little tidbit?? Anyway, if you don’t read it already, you’ll love her blog! I’ll do it the old school way. It’s hipteacher (dot) typepad (dot) com (slash) schoolblog.) Anyway, it made my day!

Teaching Meme

1. I am a good teacher because…(this one is hard) because… because I think I am able to create a classroom community that makes my students excited to come to school. I think they love learning and, even though they are only 7, I encourage them to be reflective about and take control of their own learning, not just do what I tell them to. Oh, and I think they are super cute!

2. If I weren’t a teacher, I would be…a photographer, a florist, OOOO!! I would name nail polish colors. Or have a huge ranch for cats (that’s a little scary, isn’t it?? Hellooooo steretype about teachers and cats!) Maybe we’ll stick with naming nail polishes. How ’bout Cinnamon Toast? Or Glass O’ Red? Maybe You Rock It Red? No?

3. My teaching style is…like the Energizer Bunny…I bop around, beat my drum, and try to keep everyone going. Although I’m not sure about the pink…

4. My classroom is… cluttered. Whoah! Was that out loud?? I meant filled with photographs and brilliant student art. It’s very cozy, yea, we’ll call it “cozy”.

5. My lesson plans… are flawless!!! Ha ha! Got you! My lesson plans are done almost exclusively on Post It notes…it looks like Office Depot threw up in my planner. But who doesn’t love a good stack of Post Its.

6. One of my teaching goals is…to encourage my students’ natural talents while also teaching them it’s OK to not know everything or have trouble with something.

7. The toughest part of teaching is…reaching every student. I have so many beautiful memories of children who have blossomed in my room, but I also remember those that I don’t think I did enough for. Those are the students I keep in my mind to motivate me every day. So, that and having to hold my pee.

8. The thing I love most about teaching is… spending time with kids. I don’t think I could work with just adults all day.

9. A common misconception about teaching is…it’s easy. You just read what’s in the manual and do what your told and poof! kids learn. I think that most people outside of the field of teaching don’t know how much creativity and energy it takes to get a group of children to engage with new ideas and learn. Teachers are much more intelligent than we are given credit for…not just anyone can do our job.

10. The most important thing I’ve learned since I started teaching…to balance. I have learned (or I’m getting closer) how to balance work and personal life and my own schooling (why did I decide to go back for my doctorate again?). When I’ve let the scales tip more toward one over the others, nothing ends up going well.

There! My first Meme ever!! Ok. I don’t really know the etiquette for this. Or how to link stuff. Damn.

I’ll tag:
A Teacher’s Life (Thanks for reading Jen!)
Tense Teacher
The Coffee Table
But Wait There’s More!
The Doc Is In (Thanks for reading dr pezz!!)

Apologies if you’ve already been tagged or don’t want to be. Just know I admire your blogs.

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14 Comments
  • ooh, i know something!

    if’n ya want to link to someone, do the following gibberish:

    a href=”http://www.website.com”>website name or whatever word you are linking to< at the beginning put < then at the end just add /a> to close the link. i didn’t do it up there because blogger would then have made a link to website.com rather than showing you the html.

    w3 schools also has lots of instruction.

    happy linking away!

    August 18, 2007 at 12:24 am
  • I also think it is hard to hold your pee all day. My 9th graders would ask me to go to the bathroom. Sometimes I say no. Sometimes I say yes. What I want to say is “IF I have to hold it, so do you!” Of course, that would not be professional. πŸ™‚

    August 18, 2007 at 12:39 am
  • Yay! You tagged me. And this is a new one I’ve never seen. I know a couple of teacher-bloggers to pass this one on to.

    It is late Friday night, so I will work on it tomorrow. Sorry I haven’t visited before, but I have you bookmarked now, so I will be back!
    J.

    August 18, 2007 at 2:15 am
  • Thanks for tagging me!

    August 18, 2007 at 2:16 pm
  • I especially love the nail polish naming and post-it plans.

    August 18, 2007 at 6:00 pm
  • hipteacher…you are amazing!! Thank you!! I am going to link my face off in the next post…

    athena- I hear you!!

    hoosiergirl5- thanks for book marking me:)

    tense teacher- again, love your blog!!

    laura- thanks for reading

    August 18, 2007 at 9:51 pm
  • Thanks for the tag, I have done this one and it is fun! Go to my older posts…. Thanks for thinking of me!

    August 19, 2007 at 12:55 am
  • Thanks for the tag! I’ll get on it tonight after dinner.

    By the way, what are the rules surrounding being tagged?

    August 19, 2007 at 1:33 am
  • I have no idea dr pezz…but I’d love to know. Are they secretly annoying?? I think they’re fun but it could be because I’m relatively un-new and possibly terribly uncool.

    Just know that I tagged those who I love to read (so far…) πŸ™‚

    August 19, 2007 at 3:46 am
  • Thanks. I’ve seen a few different sets of rules, so I was just curious. I’m on it. πŸ™‚

    August 19, 2007 at 4:49 pm
  • Just discovered you (through Tense Teacher) – love your blog! I hate that holding your pee thing too. πŸ™‚

    August 24, 2007 at 3:12 pm
  • I finally did the meme. Check it out.

    J.

    August 26, 2007 at 8:05 pm
  • Mimi, given the things you have said about teaching I think the world can use some more teachers like you. Upfront. Honest. In love with the kids and the process of teaching while retaining one’s sense of humor. Life is far too short to let a little fecal matter one one’s face destroy the day.

    Well done. Long time fan, first time poster. Look forward to future installments!

    August 27, 2007 at 2:23 am
  • Bert…you are lovely! Thank you!

    August 27, 2007 at 9:48 pm

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