Not too long ago, I was a student teacher graduating from the College of Education. It was a strange time in my life: I was fully educated, fully certified and fully qualified to be a teacher. I was up to date with the latest and greatest in the world of education and could do no wrong when it came to teaching the future minds of America. And yet, I faced the same struggle the majority of young educators-to-be face when they receive their diploma: no school seemed to want a first year teacher. Our training and years of work were considered inexperienced and unfit for the set expectations. The stigma of the first-year teacher was very real. It was soul-crushing. And yet, I was optimistic. Somebody would want me to come teach for them soon.
Even shorter of a time ago, I set my alarm for 5:30 every morning and crossed my fingers that I could find a substitute job. If I was lucky, I could land the job the night before so I knew exactly where I was going. Multi-curricular jobs in almost 20 different schools, long-term positions for exceptional teachers on leave, and the chance to experiment with the first day of school on a daily basis became my life. I built a strong relationship with many teachers and was lucky to get called back any time they had to be gone. This is it, I thought. I have the training, the education and the ability to learn a lesson plan in five minutes as well as figure out a backup plan if the TV conks out (you try telling a class of pre-schoolers that they won't be watching Veggie Tales because the dvd player isn't working). Now I have the reputation. I'm an excellent substitute teacher. Someone will hire me because of my ability to understand the school. Soon I will be a first year teacher.
Around the same time ago, I took on a second job at a tutoring center. It was a strange life to spend a full class period following someone else's plan to spending four hours in the evening teaching anything from metaphors vs. similes to Cornell Note-Taking methods. My students ranged from 5 to 18 and were in varying stages of their personal and educational lives. Here was my time to shine with developing relationships. I watched students light up when they saw they were scheduled to be at my table. I got laughter from terrible puns, respect from knowing Doctor Who and a lot of eye-rolling when I tried to explain that you actually do need to have good time management skills to fulfill your dream of becoming a writer/actress/Navy Seal/businessman/professional basketball player/famous drummer/teacher. I was a fantastic tutor and knew that these would be fond memories as I transitioned to a classroom full-time (some day). It was another wonderful step of experience towards being a first year teacher.
And while this time was incredibly fulfilling, it was also filled with resentment. I wouldn't have to take this job on top of subbing if I didn't have my first year teaching job. I would have my own classroom, create my own lesson plan, teach my own students every day. Not read over a plan on a sticky note (yes, that happened once) and improvise the best I could with no understanding of the teacher's management style. Not follow a company's strict lessons and not be allowed to really get to know the child before dealing out another activity. Frankly, sometimes I was angry. It was now well over a year since I graduated and nobody seemed to want to give me a chance as a full-time teacher. The rejection hurt and could leave me bitter over my current, not first year teacher status.
Not to mention I was planning my wedding with my fiance. Who was going through the exact same thing. Two highly qualified teachers-to-be. No first year teachers.
Fast-forward to a little over a year ago.
My then-fiance now-husband and I decided to branch out and try applying to schools in different states. Just because our hometown wants someone with 3+ years of experience doesn't mean another state would happily take a new teacher. Right?
Absolutely right.
Because there was a school system who immediately noticed my husband's resume and called him up for an interview. One sly name-drop on his part later and I received the call for an interview. In the blink of an eye, the principals requested that we come down for second interviews and to visit the town. We drove 15+ hours a mere two days after our interviews and found ourselves touring the middle school and then the high school. The interview felt more of an introduction on their part: let us show you what we do and we hope you want to teach here. And less than a week after the initial phone call, we both sat in the superintendent's office and were informed we each had two job offers and could pick which one we wanted.
Let me rephrase that: after about a year and a half of no calls for interviews in our home state, we each walked away with two job offers apiece. We got to pick what we wanted to teach.
August 2014 is when I could finally call myself a first year teacher. 10th and 11th Grade English. My dream come true.
So this is where I spend hours upon hours writing about my experiences as a first year teacher and describe everything in detail about how it was life-changing and the greatest time of my educational career, right? After all, I spent 4.5 years of college training for this moment and another year and a half subbing and tutoring my heart out to get noticed. This is where I tell you everything you need to know about being a first year teacher.
Truth be told: I barely remember anything from my first semester and can only describe how less stressed I was in my second semester.
Nobody can really prepare you to be a first year teacher. You can get the curriculum, you can arrange your classroom, attend all professional development meetings and set the tone strong in the first few days of school. You can write and read blog after blog and journal after journal about the different strategies of Love and Logic. Capturing Kids' Hearts, grouping vs. pairing, Common Core vs. traditional, the evils of technology, the beauty of technology and everything else that makes up shaping your first year. You can have a principal observe and evaluate you or have the department leader give you all of her ideas to help make it easier. You can have entire lesson plans handed to you or learn how to write them.
No matter what and how you prepare, you blink and suddenly it's the last day of the school year. And all you can think is: "...wait, what?"
Now, in the defense of those who can write about their first year, I did get married partway through my first semester. Neither my husband nor I can really comprehend everything that happened until then. The wedding was amazing and marriage is wonderful. I would personally not recommend planning a wedding during your first semester of teaching. I mean it when I say the first semester was a blur. I can remember some things but most memories come after we returned from getting married.
And all the things I can remember, I shake my head and say, "Oh my god... I will do that SO MUCH BETTER NEXT YEAR."
Which brings me to where I am right now.
May was the last time I would ever be referred to as a first year teacher. It was one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of my life. As I write, I am days away from our school's first Professional Development day of the school year. Next week, I will meet my new students. And this time: I will do so much better than when I was a first year teacher.
That is the purpose of this blog. Well... one of the purposes. I was encouraged by family and friends to start a blog during my first year to keep them caught up. Truth be told: I was too busy, guys. So this year is a chance to try again. A time of reflection, forward-thinking, and memory.
This is the blog of the Second Year Teacher. The one who walked into her classroom on day one as a first year teacher and almost vomited from fear. The one who spent hours and hours every Sunday creating amazing lessons and units only to see them flop horribly. The one who put up with a lot of crap and attitude from students and let them get away with far too much. The one who started to get a little better come second semester. The one who got students to believe that stick figures are art. The one who started writing letters of recommendations for graduating students. The one who knocked her principal evaluations out of the park and was cleared for rehire. The one who held it together when a student leaving told her that she impacted his life and made a difference. The one who got the worst sore throat and cough during exam week and couldn't take a day off because it's exam week. The one who made it to her second year.
This is for the first year teacher who is now the second year teacher. It's one of the scariest transitions in life that I can think of. It is also one of the most fulfilling. This time, I plan to pause a little more often so I can remember what happens.
On a lighter note: I'm spending the week going into my classroom to decorate and prepare. Stay tuned for pictures and updates on why you should (or shouldn't) become addicted to Pinterest for DIY Classroom.
Even shorter of a time ago, I set my alarm for 5:30 every morning and crossed my fingers that I could find a substitute job. If I was lucky, I could land the job the night before so I knew exactly where I was going. Multi-curricular jobs in almost 20 different schools, long-term positions for exceptional teachers on leave, and the chance to experiment with the first day of school on a daily basis became my life. I built a strong relationship with many teachers and was lucky to get called back any time they had to be gone. This is it, I thought. I have the training, the education and the ability to learn a lesson plan in five minutes as well as figure out a backup plan if the TV conks out (you try telling a class of pre-schoolers that they won't be watching Veggie Tales because the dvd player isn't working). Now I have the reputation. I'm an excellent substitute teacher. Someone will hire me because of my ability to understand the school. Soon I will be a first year teacher.
Around the same time ago, I took on a second job at a tutoring center. It was a strange life to spend a full class period following someone else's plan to spending four hours in the evening teaching anything from metaphors vs. similes to Cornell Note-Taking methods. My students ranged from 5 to 18 and were in varying stages of their personal and educational lives. Here was my time to shine with developing relationships. I watched students light up when they saw they were scheduled to be at my table. I got laughter from terrible puns, respect from knowing Doctor Who and a lot of eye-rolling when I tried to explain that you actually do need to have good time management skills to fulfill your dream of becoming a writer/actress/Navy Seal/businessman/professional basketball player/famous drummer/teacher. I was a fantastic tutor and knew that these would be fond memories as I transitioned to a classroom full-time (some day). It was another wonderful step of experience towards being a first year teacher.
And while this time was incredibly fulfilling, it was also filled with resentment. I wouldn't have to take this job on top of subbing if I didn't have my first year teaching job. I would have my own classroom, create my own lesson plan, teach my own students every day. Not read over a plan on a sticky note (yes, that happened once) and improvise the best I could with no understanding of the teacher's management style. Not follow a company's strict lessons and not be allowed to really get to know the child before dealing out another activity. Frankly, sometimes I was angry. It was now well over a year since I graduated and nobody seemed to want to give me a chance as a full-time teacher. The rejection hurt and could leave me bitter over my current, not first year teacher status.
Not to mention I was planning my wedding with my fiance. Who was going through the exact same thing. Two highly qualified teachers-to-be. No first year teachers.
Fast-forward to a little over a year ago.
My then-fiance now-husband and I decided to branch out and try applying to schools in different states. Just because our hometown wants someone with 3+ years of experience doesn't mean another state would happily take a new teacher. Right?
Absolutely right.
Because there was a school system who immediately noticed my husband's resume and called him up for an interview. One sly name-drop on his part later and I received the call for an interview. In the blink of an eye, the principals requested that we come down for second interviews and to visit the town. We drove 15+ hours a mere two days after our interviews and found ourselves touring the middle school and then the high school. The interview felt more of an introduction on their part: let us show you what we do and we hope you want to teach here. And less than a week after the initial phone call, we both sat in the superintendent's office and were informed we each had two job offers and could pick which one we wanted.
Let me rephrase that: after about a year and a half of no calls for interviews in our home state, we each walked away with two job offers apiece. We got to pick what we wanted to teach.
August 2014 is when I could finally call myself a first year teacher. 10th and 11th Grade English. My dream come true.
So this is where I spend hours upon hours writing about my experiences as a first year teacher and describe everything in detail about how it was life-changing and the greatest time of my educational career, right? After all, I spent 4.5 years of college training for this moment and another year and a half subbing and tutoring my heart out to get noticed. This is where I tell you everything you need to know about being a first year teacher.
Truth be told: I barely remember anything from my first semester and can only describe how less stressed I was in my second semester.
Nobody can really prepare you to be a first year teacher. You can get the curriculum, you can arrange your classroom, attend all professional development meetings and set the tone strong in the first few days of school. You can write and read blog after blog and journal after journal about the different strategies of Love and Logic. Capturing Kids' Hearts, grouping vs. pairing, Common Core vs. traditional, the evils of technology, the beauty of technology and everything else that makes up shaping your first year. You can have a principal observe and evaluate you or have the department leader give you all of her ideas to help make it easier. You can have entire lesson plans handed to you or learn how to write them.
No matter what and how you prepare, you blink and suddenly it's the last day of the school year. And all you can think is: "...wait, what?"
Now, in the defense of those who can write about their first year, I did get married partway through my first semester. Neither my husband nor I can really comprehend everything that happened until then. The wedding was amazing and marriage is wonderful. I would personally not recommend planning a wedding during your first semester of teaching. I mean it when I say the first semester was a blur. I can remember some things but most memories come after we returned from getting married.
And all the things I can remember, I shake my head and say, "Oh my god... I will do that SO MUCH BETTER NEXT YEAR."
Which brings me to where I am right now.
May was the last time I would ever be referred to as a first year teacher. It was one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of my life. As I write, I am days away from our school's first Professional Development day of the school year. Next week, I will meet my new students. And this time: I will do so much better than when I was a first year teacher.
That is the purpose of this blog. Well... one of the purposes. I was encouraged by family and friends to start a blog during my first year to keep them caught up. Truth be told: I was too busy, guys. So this year is a chance to try again. A time of reflection, forward-thinking, and memory.
This is the blog of the Second Year Teacher. The one who walked into her classroom on day one as a first year teacher and almost vomited from fear. The one who spent hours and hours every Sunday creating amazing lessons and units only to see them flop horribly. The one who put up with a lot of crap and attitude from students and let them get away with far too much. The one who started to get a little better come second semester. The one who got students to believe that stick figures are art. The one who started writing letters of recommendations for graduating students. The one who knocked her principal evaluations out of the park and was cleared for rehire. The one who held it together when a student leaving told her that she impacted his life and made a difference. The one who got the worst sore throat and cough during exam week and couldn't take a day off because it's exam week. The one who made it to her second year.
This is for the first year teacher who is now the second year teacher. It's one of the scariest transitions in life that I can think of. It is also one of the most fulfilling. This time, I plan to pause a little more often so I can remember what happens.
On a lighter note: I'm spending the week going into my classroom to decorate and prepare. Stay tuned for pictures and updates on why you should (or shouldn't) become addicted to Pinterest for DIY Classroom.