Becky Boer

Monthly Archives:

July 2016

Teaching

When Those Who Can Maybe Shouldn’t (How Negative Teachers Bring Us All Down)

I am tired of teachers who complain about their jobs. I get it. Being a teacher is really, really hard. It’s one of the few jobs where the better you are, the harder it is. After all, it’d be easy to be one of those teachers who just sits behind a desk all day while his or her kids do worksheets. Boring, maybe, but easy. It’s a lot harder when you’re invested in your kids, when you spend evenings making crafts and coming up with lessons, when you spend nights staring at your ceiling, not  ...

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Teaching

Blogging Challenge Day 8 : In my desk drawer

What’s in your desk drawer, and what can you infer from those contents? More pens than I will ever be able to use – I love office supplies. Sticky notes of every color, shape, and size – My students know that I love office supplies. Notes from the office – I have a small “deal with this later” pile. I have to put it in a certain spot so that I do deal with it later; otherwise, I’ll forget it. A Tide-to-go pen – I can be messy sometimes. Also, so are  ...

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Teaching

Blogging Challenge Day 7: Inspiration

Who was or is your most inspirational colleague, and why? I’m going to take the easy way out on this question: there are boatloads of colleagues who have inspired me over the years. I’ll start with Laurie. Laurie had been teaching for years when I came along, and I’ve always striven to be more like her – not only in my teaching, but in life in general. She has, hands-down, the best attitude about teaching that I’ve ever seen. Laurie loved her students fiercely,  ...

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Teaching

Blogging Challenge Day 6: Mentoring

Explain: What does a good mentor “do”? Experience is the teacher of all things. – Julius Caesar Nobody is a great teacher during his or her first year. Sounds harsh, but it’s true. Some people are acceptable teachers. Some are even good teachers. But during your first year, there’s just too much that you don’t know. And that’s okay, because you’ll learn. If you have a good mentor, the strides you make during that first year can be monumental. Daniel  ...

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