Tomorrow is the first day of school. I can't even explain how nervous and anxious I am. As you can probably guess I am a school teacher and no matter how many years I've done this, I still get nervous for the first day of school. However, this time my anxiety is 10 times that it normally is because this year I am at a new school in a new school district. Not only that, I was hired about 2 weeks ago and have been scrambling to get my room to look at least respectable for when students arrive bright and early tomorrow.
Now from my post your first impression is probably that I am an negative, see the glass half empty kinda gal, but in all actuality I'm the totally opposite. I am able to (usually) see that silver lining in that quintessential cloud. I know once the students enter my room all my worries and fears will disappear. I will survive and the key to this all is not to show my discomposure in fromt of the students, because everyone know just like bees and dogs, kids can always smell fear! :)
Lydia, Nice to meet you digitally! I can totally relate to your anxiety. I'm a bit on the other end of the biological timeline as I'm experiencing "empty nest" and you're juggling your adorable Jack, while taking all this on (new job, teaching, tech). So... thinking that being busy would help with the transition, I elected to take this course (way out of my comfort zone), and run for town council in my town, not realizing that my class sizes were expanding exponentially! 27 in my homeroom and 26 in my math class to date! Ahhh! So, needless to say, my stomach has been in knots!
ReplyDeleteBut like you, I am an optimist at heart! We will balance it all out. BTW, envious of your whiteboard! 97 Promethium boards were installed in our district! Call me greedy, but I want one!
If there is one thing I've learned about teaching...it's that I will always feel unprepared, and like I'm not doing enough...but I always manage to get my students where I want them to be. It may not be benchmark level, but as long as they're moving, and making progress, I'm happy. I think it's what makes us good teachers- we want to do the right thing for the kids, and that means we always want to do more. I'm sure your room looked great..good luck this year!
ReplyDeleteI'll add my own voice to this. Isn't being an optimist part of being a good teacher? As is being nervous...or anticipatory abut all the great things that may come each year. Good Luck with the new circumstances, Lydia! You'll do great!
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone! I 'survived' the first two days and on the first day of school I was actually more excited than nervous. Maybe it was because I vented all my fears through this blog! :)
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