My 1st Year of Teaching...

It's been quite a while since I really posted, so I am playing catch up on a few posts. Well I can't believe that the last day of school really arrived. At times, I really thought it might never come. But now that it did, I am almost having a hard time believing that summer is really here....just almost!! ;)

I loved teaching school my first year. It wasn't your typical first year of teaching. My job description changed I think a total of 3 times during the course of the year. I started off by being a simple kindergarten aide and teaching 4 classes of extended homeroom math. I loved my schedule and love, love, loved working with the kindergarten kids and their teacher. She and I became such good friends over the year. I learned so much being in Ashley's class---more than student teaching and practicums combined!!

About mid September/October (I really can't remember anymore!) I was asked to teach two new classes in the mornings. They were getting a few new 1st grade students and needed a teacher to teach them math and science/history. I was so excited when they asked me to teach this! I started off with a class of a whopping 4 students...no joke! It was kind of weird, but they assured me more would come as the year progressed. (I think it was more of an assumption than an assurance....) But we pushed forward with the small class. The kids were so sweet and great. As the year went on, our class grew and by the end of the year we had about 15 kids. I treated these kids like they were my own. I loved that we had such a small class. We all got to be so close and we could really do some fun projects because there were only the few of us. By the end of the year, I was sad to say goodbye to my 1st graders. I really grew to love them and I think these kids and these two small classes really made me begin to love being a teacher! I really saw such progress with each of them individually and that made me feel like I was actually doing something right. I am excited to see most of them next year!!

About the time for Christmas break to begin, my principal called me into his office. I wasn't totally sure what was going on. In fact, I had no idea, especially about what he was going to offer me next. He said that they needed to make some changes to the 3rd grade math class. There were some management problems and the students weren't being taught or learning what they needed to be, especially by the mid year mark. He offered me the position, which meant I would have to leave my job as a kindergarten aide. It was really a hard decision, but after much thought, prayer, and talking with Chris and just about everyone else, I decided it would be a great opportunity for me, so I took it. So I came back from Christmas break and started yet another new job, I was the new 3rd grade math teacher. I had 4 classes of 3rd graders, a total of just about 100 students. As the year went on, I learned just how much of a challenge it was going to be. I had a lot of students who were really low and I worried so much about how I was going to get them ready for their end of level test coming up at the end of the year. I just had this worry that if they failed those tests, that it would be a direct reflection of my teaching abilities. Chris had to constantly remind me that it wouldn't be my fault. I was only there trying to fix the problem, and that it wasn't my problem to begin with. Even my principal said that he knew I would only help these kids do better. I had to keep those words of encouragement in my mind pretty much all the time. It was really hard! I tried my best and I learned to really love a lot of the students. Although their management was still a struggle by the end of the year, I really feel like I took these kids from a low point and brought them to where they needed to be---even a handful of them really pushed themselves and exceeded my expectations. After looking over their end of level scores, I was so proud of them all! They all did better than I could have expected. They weren't all perfect, but I that's not what mattered. I saw even some of my lowest students improve their grades significantly and that means something. Overall, I think that taking over this class taught me a whole lot more that I probably taught the kids. I learned so much about myself as a teacher. I'm glad I had the opportunity.

Now, as far as next year goes. I am going to be teaching a 2nd grade homeroom class. I will only have to worry about language arts--reading and writing. I am excited about that. And even better, I will only have about 50 students max, rather than over 120 with all my classes combined this year. That will be wonderful when it comes time for grading papers!! It will be a new experience and challenge for me, but I guess that's what my whole teaching career has been so far! Just as long as they don't change my job description AT ALL during the year, I think I will do fine! I am excited!!

Ok, there is my whole school year in a nut shell. I loved working at Vista and I loved the people I worked with. I am so excited to continue working with the wonderful people who work there. I have made so many great friendships and have learned so much from working with the other teachers. There are so many amazing teachers and that's really what makes that school great!! So....let the summer begin!!! =)