New School, New Room, New Beginning

This year marks my 15th year of teaching.  Seems strange that 14 years have passed.  I've loved almost ever minute of my time as a teacher.  I've laughed, cried, yelled, and almost had a nervous breakdown.  But what I have experienced the most is joy.  Children are amazing people to spend your days with.  They tell it like it is.  They make my laugh.  They make me crazy.  They make me feel great about myself and then a second later as bad as I've ever felt.

A teacher has a lot of power.  Power to lift up and power to stomp down. I wish I could say that I've always chosen my words wisely and have never hurt a child with my words.  The truth is that I've hurt numerous children with angry words that I spewed in moments of frustration.  Those words were always immediately followed by an apology, but they were out there and they had hit their target.  Damage had been done.  My goal every year is to NOT let that happen.  But fatigue, stress, and frustration have their way of creeping in and before I know it, I'm in a precarious position where hurtful words are positioning themselves to spring from my mouth.  Keeping them in and taking a breath and counting to ten is essential.  Once in a while I'm successful and I keep them at bay.  Once in a while... not so much.

So now, I'm beginning a new chapter in my teaching career.  A new school and a new beginning.  I'm excited about this coming school year.  Something that had been lacking last year.  I realized that as my 14th year of teaching progressed, I wasn't experiencing as much joy and satisfaction.  I was dreading going to school.  I realized I was not feeling like a very good teacher.  My principal was someone who was always looking forward and asking that question.. "How could you make things better?"  Of course this is a good question, because things could always be better, but before that question, maybe there should be some praise for what's going well.  There were many things going well in my classroom.  My student's performed remarkably well on their state test, 93% proficient or advanced.  I also had a lot of love and joy in my classroom which is the most important thing as far as I'm concerned.

I decided in the middle of last school year to apply for a new position if the right one came to me.  And, low and behold, this third grade teaching position opened up and Longmont Estates Elementary.  This school has students that fall into the full range of the socio-economic scale.  I spent the first 12 years of my career working with kids of poverty and the last 2 working with kids from very affluent homes.  Now, I'm ready to work with that elusive group of kids from the middle class.  I was surprised at how many teachers applied for this position.  I had a LOT of amazing competition.  When she called and offered me the position, I felt very honored.  I know the pool of candidates she had to choose from and the fact that she chose me, really made me feel that I still have what it takes to be an effective, loving, and fun teacher.

So.. here we go.  Another new school.  Another new class.  Another new staff.  I'm ready and excited to get this year off the ground....  and hope for a "safe landing" at the end of the ride.  A landing that will make me want to spend as many years taking off and landing at this school.  I'm ready to stay there until I retire if that is what's in the cards for me.