Changing Your Future
The Personal Website of Cara L. Morris
about me
I come from a very long line of elementary school teachers—my great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, aunt, sister, cousin, ... I have always had a desire to help children discover, learn, and grow.When I was 5, I made an "All About Me" book and wrote that I was going to be a teacher when I grew up. I still have that book as a reminder of my early dream.
Today, I am a 1st grade teacher in the California public school system. My school, at which I have taught for 11 years, has a large percentage of minority and low-income families. This presents challenges; however, I love these kids and I wouldn't trade this school for any other "better" location.
I have 20 students in my class. 75% of my students have attended kindergarten and pre-school at the same school and 75% of those students have siblings who have attended the school for three years or more. These numbers are higher than they have been in the past and that is a great testament to the impact of our school on the community. Many people would look at our kids and see "lost causes." I only see children, children who, despite the challenges in their lives, come to school excited about learning and excited about their future.
Someday in the future, I would like to open my own learning center where I can ensure that all children in my care are learning in the best way possible for them. This is what I work towards. This is my "Why."
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Friday, July 15, 2005
It is the end of the 2nd week of school and I am now down to 20 students (possibly 19). One student (as I explained in last week's entry) was transferred to C Track, 2 students did not return to school after the first 2 days of school and 1 student was transferred to D Track. I may be losing another student to C Track because he has a sibling on that track and there is room in 1st grade. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but this will be the 2nd student that I have lost to C track and both of them are VERY bright students :(. Thanks, Barbara!! (just kidding!)posted by Cara at 5:19 PM |
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Friday, July 08, 2005
Try this "educational logic" on for size. As of Wednesday, I had 20 students in my class. Officially that should be my limit. . .Wednesday afternoon I received an enrollment slip for #21. Thursday morning, I met student #21 in my line ALONG WITH students #22, #23, and #24! Now here's the kicker. . .we have 4 first grade classes in session now. One class is bilingual and the other 3 are English only (this includes my class). I am A track and I have 24 students. The C track class has 19 students and the B track class. . . has 8 students. So, if you think logically, the 4 extra students in my class would go to B track. That's not hard, right? Well, to solve my over-enrollment problem, one student was taken from my class and put on C track. And so far, that's it. So, I now have 23 students, C track has 20, and B track still has 8. Now, I'm not a "numbers person", but something about that just doesn't seem right. What do you think?posted by Cara at 7:24 AM |
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Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Today was the first day of school (and possibly my last first day of school). If my plans work out, I will be leaving my position as a teacher at the end of the school year. I would still like to be involved in education and working with children, but teaching as a profession just isn't what it used to be. This is my tenth year as a teacher and we now have so many hoops to jump through that I am very quickly losing the joy of guiding children in their learning. I just want to be able to teach children. I don't need to teach "the curriculum", I don't need to teach to "the tests", I just want to teach children.Anyways, that's a long story and you kind of have to experience teaching in order to understand. So, I'll get back to my last first day. I had a total of 19 brand new first graders walk through my door. 16 of them stayed for the entire day, 2 left because of missing paperwork and will return tomorrow, and 1 went to a different class. It was a great day filled with learning new routines and lots of "Are we going home yet?" You see, first graders are used to a kindergarten day, 3 hours. So, adjusting to 6 hours will take some time. We had rest time and 3 recesses to help motivate them to make it through the day. I'm excited about this group. We had a great start and I'm looking forward to a great last year!
One last thing. . . I found out today that one of my students is the brother of a student I had 9 years ago when I taught first grade. Wow! That was cool.
posted by Cara at 9:22 PM |
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