The Questions You Don’t Ask

As I am sitting here scrolling through this sub, I am reminded of a question I had when I started my student teaching. I remember scrolling through this page, reading all the stories, and thinking, “How does the teacher have time for all of this?” <br>I went through college and got a job in a Title 1 high school. It is an inner city school and I have never felt more at home. <br>I was scrolling through this sub the other day and I read a lot of questions. And then I looked at my students. I wanted to know, what questions do they have about me? So I asked them. <br>They had a lot of questions, mostly about how I had time for all of the things I do. They were also curious about my notes and how I get so much down. <br>I get a lot of shit for taking so many notes. I can’t focus on anything else when I have 18 to 20 students looking at me and asking questions. I also can’t manage to take notes that way. I barely write out more than two bullet points, but it helps me so much. <br>The other thing I get shit for is being there 2 hours before school starts. I am so unorganized if I don’t have at least an hour to write out sticky notes, review my notes, and collect any materials I might need. I also tend to clean my desk and room to help me focus.<br>I can’t say I have enough time for grading, but I usually work the next morning writing up the grades or organizing them, but they asked me about it. I just can’t figure out what makes the grading go faster. <br>Going back to the time thing, how do teachers have so much time? I teach 4 classes. I have 3 preps, and I don’t really understand how teachers manage to get so many things done. How do you do it?!?<br>All in all, I am extremely grateful for this sub. I knew what to expect. I knew the questions to ask. I knew what I was getting myself into. I am getting a lot of hate for being new and asking so many questions, but this sub encouraged me to ask questions. <br>I told my students the other day, “I am going to ask you a lot of questions this year. I ask a lot of questions because I want to learn. I want to learn how to teach better. I want to help every single one of you. And I want to make sure I do everything correctly so we can have a great experience this year.” <br>And to my students who are reading this, keep asking questions. Keep me on my toes.