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 This blog is no longer being updated.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
End-of-vacation anxiety
Isn't it amazing how the quality of one's winter vacation inversely correlates with the amount of work completed?
Education
Opinion
Reality meets certification
In a perfect world where there is no educational inequity, there would be no need for not-yet-alternatively-certified teachers like me. In a perfect world, every classroom teacher would be certified and effective. In a perfect world, I would have been able to tell the interviewers at my current job what the 14 IDEA disabilities were—rather than shamefully explain that I had no clue, but had every intention of finding out.
Education
Opinion
From two former students
Hey Shyu,
thank for pushing us to high school and other stuff
thank for pushing us to high school and other stuff
Education
Opinion
Second-year, still sick
Sorry folks, I have the flu/cold. So much for staving off sickness after one year in the trenches.
Education
Opinion
Least expected heroes
He used to hit me. And I used to bite him right back. As children, we fought about who got the bigger piece of candy, and as we grew older, we fought about who was ruining whose life more. This is my little brother. And at 20, he has only recently sort of become tolerable.
Education
Opinion
Giving thanks
What is Thanksgiving like on the Navajo Nation? Thanksgiving is paper turkeys adorning my classroom door with all that we’re thankful. Thanksgiving is a whole community gathering for a turkey dinner on Wednesday in the cafeteria. Thanksgiving is going around the cafeteria and getting hugs from a dozen moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas and aunties who barely looked twice at me last year. (And reminders from them to not party too hard this weekend in Washington, D.C.)
Education
Opinion
Asian on the Navajo Nation
A month and a half ago, Chinese people around the world celebrated the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, a joyous holiday of telling legends of the Moon Lady, eating moon cakes and gathering with friends and family.
Education
Opinion
The non-entry
I am not updating the blog today. This week’s Tuesday blog entry is about how I am not updating. I am not updating because I am frustrated, tired and stressed out.
Education
Opinion
Use those personal days!
11:30 a.m., is fourth period resource math class. We are a month behind in our standards. A quarter of the class is failing. Some need help with multiplication. Others need work on counting nickels.
Education
Opinion
Animal Rights
I'm all about language. I believe in embedding language lessons in everything, including math class. I like to stick idioms into my instruction every so often in order to expose my students to the wide world of words.
Education
Opinion
Prime Numbers
If Special Ed teachers are drama queens as my professor at Western New Mexico University claims, then teaching is the ultimate form of improv.
Education
Opinion
Good day, good luck
There is no such thing as a "bad day" or "lousy luck"-- you get what you put into it. But man, today was bad and my luck was lousy.