September 3, 2012
                                                 A Letter to My Former Students
Dear Upward Bound students-
        I look back at my years tutoring, directing and teaching you fondly but now with a twinge of regret. I'm sorry I tried so hard to get you to like me and be my friends rather than be your teacher. I'm sorry I didn't make my expectations clear and your pathways to achieve them clearer. I'm sorry for the times I didn't understand all the difficulties you had going on at home and I hope you have learned to overcome them.  I know that you learned, but I also know that you could have learned so much more if I had known what I do now, then. My promise to you is that I will keep striving to become a better teacher.
Sincerely,
Natalie Scott

The benefit of hindsight is that it is 20/20. In the few years I have had teaching I feel that I have learned so much, which is wonderful and terrible. I sincerely hope that as I was learning I didn't permanently damage any student's learning. However, the only way to get better is to keep practicing and implementing feedback from my more experienced counterparts.

Now on to a new story from thew week:
        The past 3 weeks school has been in session I have had several run ins with a particular student on the subject of controlling her tongue. I will call her Diamond for the sake of the story. The first time she spoke out of turn I gave her a check, then another, when she got the third and had to move to yellow on the behavior tracker she started to cry which mellowed into a pout for the rest of the day. Seeing that mere checks weren't the way to change her behavior I tried to explain to Diamond how disrespectful it was to speak during another scholar's turn or when the teacher was talking since one of our core virtues was respect and I had been highlighting it in our community meetings each day. This only produced more tears and pouting. Next, I tried snagging her in the morning while she was going to her locker and talking to her about how she was a leader in the class and that everyone would do whatever she did. (Diamond just didn't realize what a climate changer she was.... check out Pastor Josh's sermon http://www.elimgospel.net/media.php?pageID=146)  I thought that talk would turn the tide but Diamond was swiftly back at talking at inappropriate times giving her opinion whenever she felt like it. Last Friday, Diamond got to red on the behavior tracker before half the day was over and she was a melting, pouting, crying puddle at her desk. I decided to try a different tactic. I asked her why she wasn't allowed to talk when others were talking and she whimpered that she would get a check. I wanted her to see past the checks to why it was disruptive to her and those around her so I decided to make her the teacher and I would pretend to be her as a student. She attempted to teach the lesson and I talked when I wasn't supposed to. Diamond gave me a check to which I replied with crying, pouting, and entirely over dramatized carrying on. Diamond started to smile and I asked her about how much teaching she was able to accomplish while I was crying. I think she started to see how her actions impacted those around her. I would love to say by the end of the day Diamond spoke and kept quiet when she was supposed to, however, she only made it back to yellow by the end of the day. Apparently, this is one of those times when I will have just have to keep using my imagination for creative ways to teach controlling one's tongue.
SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!