On the Reservation
Jessica Shyu was a special education teacher at an elementary and middle school on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. Once a journalism student from the Washington, D.C., area, she traded the Beltway for the sprawling mesas of the Southwest. In this opinion blog, Jessica chronicled the good, the bad, and the occasionally amusing of being a young teacher at an underresourced school in a rural community. This blog is no longer being updated.
Education
Opinion
High five
I have a 14-year-old student with mental retardation who is learning to count by 5’s. Despite all of our practice and strategies, he hasn’t been able to get past 15 for the past month. Some days, it feels like a lost cause. Some days I think he’s not trying. And today, I am just tired.
Education
Opinion
Uncomfortable
Dear readers: I will be updating this blog every Tuesday and occasionally in between. Please check back regularly for new posts. Thank you!
Education
Opinion
Paint under my nails
I have 10 kiddos running around my classroom, glue and papers on the floor, and I have a sneaking suspicion that there's blue paint slowly drying on my carpet. I still have a head cold and I stopped being paid an hour and a half ago. Yet, eight little paper scarecrows on my desk tell me this is all worth it.
Education
Opinion
Refocus
It hit me how much I love my job today. I got a bit blue during my lunch break while thinking about how much I miss my boyfriend, who is living abroad this year. I started sinking in my chair and I could feel the tingle of tears around my eyes. But then who crashes through my classroom door, but “Elmer”, my student with cognitive impairment and physical disabilities. He is a sheep herder and a Navajo cowboy and sometimes he can be so, so naughty.
Education
Opinion
Birth of the Art Club (or, my real dream of an environmental club)
I’ll be honest: I wanted an environmental club. I wanted to sponsor an after-school club on water conservation and air pollution. I pictured myself gathering school children on sunny afternoons to learn about climate change. We could hook up with Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots program and invite Navajo environmentalists to lead talks; we could have started recycling. It would have been grand.
Education
Opinion
Keep cool
It’s not in the state standards, but it’s one of those life skills all teachers must teach. And so, in the first week of school this year, my students and I found ourselves abandoning reading class for 15 minutes to walk around the classroom with our shoulders thrown back and heads proud in the air to practice looking “cool.”