Fabulous First Week

TGIF! I need to put my feet up and take a breather! After my first three days teaching, I am exhausted. This week was full of learning how to get organized and work with my team. I have an excellent support system at my school, which I feel is the most important aspect for first year teachers. I love how well we all work together to solve problems.

If I have any advice to pass on to student teachers, it is to plan as many solid lessons as you can before you report to work. I ended up spending much of my summer planning for organization and classroom management, only to change my mind after going through the district training. Now, I am trying to catch up on lesson planning while learning all the procedures at my school. I can also tell you to plan on spending many hours off the clock to get ready for the school day.

Most of my students are still adjusting to their schedules and they are very tired. I'm being patient with them and getting to know them on a personal level though. Our entire school and district is very much in support of team building activities for the first week or two so it is important to find resources that are different from what other teachers are doing in the building.

I can't wait to see how the next couple of months go and will update soon but now it is time to rest..zzzzzzzz

:)

Beginning of the Year Jitters

With less than two weeks before school starts, I'm both excited and nervous to begin my first teaching job. I will have three sections to prepare every day and that seems somewhat daunting but I know I can do it! My day will consist of teaching seventh grade World Geography, eighth grade U.S. History and a Literacy Intervention class.

Even though nerves are high, I'm blessed and fortunate to be teaching at the same school where I student-taught last year, giving me an advantage that I'm sure will prove extremely beneficial. I may even have some of the same students as last year...I hope they will be as excited about that as I am!

I've already had numerous conversations with my former WSU classmates and will even be working with one of them. How lucky I am to have such a great support group to share ideas, resources, and even the emotions that we, as first year teachers, will undoubtedly experience!

Looking forward to a great first year teaching experience!