Day One

Alright, so a couple of things to get out of the way right off the bat. Am I nervous/scared to be a teacher? Hell Yes I am! I think what scares me the most is that I don't know if I am good enough to do it. Like, I think I know my content area. I love English. I think it is the most fun that I had in High School, and it is obviously the subject that I excelled in after being put in AP classes for my sophomore, junior, and senior year. Also, despite the fact that I always destroy my chances of ever finishing a story, I do enjoy writing a great deal. So, I know the passion for the subject is there, and I know I have the ability to teach it, but, I don't know if I have the knowledge to teach it. For example, I was given a list of Literary Terms to put into some kind of document that we could handout to the kids. I also was given the task to put these Terms into some sort of Jeopardy game that the kids could play. Side Note: I think that this is an awesome idea, and I can't wait to play the game with them. Anytime you can take the subject, and turn it into a competition, do it! People always do better at anything when they are competing. It is human nature. Nobody wants to be last. Anyways, back on track, I was given these terms to use, and I was looking at the list, and I didn't know a couple of them myself. Now I know that doesn't automatically make me a bad teacher, and I know I still have time to learn about the things that I don't know, and heck, I know that even if I don't know it, and I am unable to give my students answers right away, it is not the end of the world. It just makes me nervous though. Despite all that, I am still nervous. Is that normal? I am told by my professors that it is, but then I look around me, and people know all the names of their students, and they are comfortable, and I am not like that right now. I don't know anybody right now. Part of that has to do with the fact that I am bad with names, but is part of it because I might not be right for teaching? I don't know right now, but I think it is about time I find out.