What I've learned

Believe it or not, we teachers learn as much or more from our students as they learn from us. This past September, I learned a lot about the curiosity and intelligence of 10th graders. As I've described, this is my first time teaching the enriched class, and I've been so pleased by how enthusiastic many of my students are about learning. To wit: when I mentioned that I'd be chaperoning a field trip to see Hamlet, several students audibly groaned in envy. Previous classes might have groaned in agony for my anticipated 3 hours of boredom. That's just one thing I've learned. My students have provided new insights into Things Fall Apart, offered all kinds of creative approaches to class material, and generally made my sophomore English teaching experience even richer than I'd anticipated.