It’s officially within 36 hours of my first day of my first teaching job, and it’s hard to describe my emotions. Ok, actually it’s easy; just crazy anxious. I’ve been thinking and mulling and reading and avoiding planning and talking about it all summer, and though I’m dreading all the possible ways the first week could go wrong, I’m so crazy excited for the things that will go right.
It’s going to be a crazy year. I’m switching down to middle school from my high school student teaching placement; I’m in a new town with student demographics that I’m not used to; I have 4 preps; my classes span all 3 grade levels; I have one class entirely made up of ESL students and I’m co-teaching another class with literally every 8th grade student in the special education program at the school–which makes up about half the class. It’s going to be interesting.
The fortunate part of my situation is that I’ve had the entire summer to attend Professional Development seminars to meet much of the faculty of the school–which I’ve discovered to be incredibly supportive and a truly inspiring group. Though there are so many new things to get used to, I know that even if every class completely bombs every day, that (after a few teary nights) I will come out at the end of the year such a better teacher than when I went in. That’s part of the beauty of the profession, right? I keep telling people that the way I look at it, after this year I could handle anything! Though next year I wouldn’t mind having fewer preps…
I’m going to try to check in with Pedablogical every week or two this year as a sort of window for those preparing to go into teaching, and a way for me to log my experiences and growth. Feel free to tune in. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
-JZ
Pedablogical Thoughts 