tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243870623338182573.post6800780988520235231..comments2013-06-20T22:55:30.564-07:00Comments on BLOCKER'S BLOG: Diary of a Rookie Teacher Part 4Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855012713063843569noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243870623338182573.post-13038525724799660112013-06-20T22:55:30.564-07:002013-06-20T22:55:30.564-07:00Great job Blocker. I too often have these feelings...Great job Blocker. I too often have these feelings of guilt as I look back on my first two years teaching. Ms. Stamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17910716949465965746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243870623338182573.post-3809969353806486922013-06-14T20:35:14.476-07:002013-06-14T20:35:14.476-07:00What she said. I can only add that this is my fav...What she said. I can only add that this is my favorite post so far. I'm rooting for Andrew.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11169218135278906419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243870623338182573.post-913109310127876662013-06-14T07:57:29.771-07:002013-06-14T07:57:29.771-07:00This may be shorter than my previous comments, whi...This may be shorter than my previous comments, which were accidentally erased. Damn computers.<br />I like the format of your blog. The fact that you kept a first year journal, and didn't revise it, and the contrast looking back with experience under your belt.<br /><br />I pictured you sitting on the bleachers with this kid, telling him you were known as the king of nonsense, showing some common ground without being fake. That's tricky as kids are such good b.s. detectors.<br /><br />There are words you used that made the reading more meaningful to me. The simple word one “living” student, subtly reveals info about the environment he was living in. “Trees that bear rotten fruit” makes me think of our history, and the song by Billie Holliday, Strange Fruit, again, suggesting more than just the current situation in isolation. I like the word staccato, which fits with the mind-set you had that first year.<br /><br />I suspect Andrew Baxter turned out okay. He shows a vulnerability in the Open House meeting, while still refusing to knuckle under. I like the way he overtly steals the free books suggesting maybe your opinion of him mattered more than he let on. I doubt if the frustration of teachers ever entered his mind. He may not have been doing his job as a student, but I think he was doing his job as a young pre-teen whose job it is to break away and find his own identity.<br /><br />What I liked most was your honesty about yourself in that first year, and the things you learned from the years following. You may not have succeeded as Andrew's teacher that year, but I think he managed to be yours.Wendy Deminghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14419009730740053042noreply@blogger.com