I am no longer a brand new high school english teacher - yep, I've done it, I've taken the plunge - into middle school. Out of nowhere, on the day we returned from an awesome week in the Vermont mountains, I had an email waiting - formally offering me a position as the new 7th grade ELA teacher at a K-8 school in my county. Without hesitating, for fear I would get into something I wasn't sure I was ready for, I respectfully declined letting the superintendent know that I'd already entered into a contract with another school, made some headway and owed the current school the fairness of hanging in there - notwithstanding that middle school (8th grade actually) was always my first choice. She didn't go away. We entered into a week long dialogue and, amazingly, all of my requests were met. The first week of August I went through a week of new teacher training and met a dozen others all entering the school as new teachers, teacher aides or other staff. Next was a solid week of all-faculty-professional development - here I met all of the teachers that I would be working with on a daily basis in the J.A. as well as the other houses. I was ready to rock. School started August 22nd and ..... My Head Just Stopped Spinning. HOLY SMACK - I was not ready for Any of this. The inner-city heterogeneous population I get..the surging hormones of 11/12/13 year-olds I get..the smallest room in the building with pubescents literally sitting within inches of each other I get (and I'm really okay with this at the moment - if the room were any larger I'm afraid I would actually be overwhelmed by covering the wall space to please some faction or another)...the curriculum framework I get. Ready? WHAT I CANNOT BELIEVE is the fact that I have to put together 90 minutes of lessons, everyday, for the next 190-plus days with absolutely no roadmap except my textbooks (one reading, one writing), the internet (way too much information at the moment) and my own creativity. I'm feeling like this sucks. But I want this to work. God Bless my husband - but for him, I would be hiding under my tomato garden. I'm going to make every effort to blog at least weekly - more if the moment strikes me to purge, share or procrastinate. ALL AND ANY LESSON PLANS WILL BE GLADLY STOLEN WITH PROPER CREDIT GIVEN. Keep me in your prayers. A
“I would much rather have regrets about not doing what people said, than regretting not doing what my heart led me to and wondering what life had been like if I'd just been myself.” Brittany Renée
2 comments:
Amy,
I've been wondering where you went. Knowing that these were busy weeks for you, but WHOA! You made a change from being ABNHSET to being a BNMSELAT. How did the other school take it?
It sounds like you're off and running. Believe it or not, here im Michigan, we only start school the day after Labor Day. My teachers have been meeting for a week, but the kids come in the morning. We're ready for them. What good is being a teacher without students?
Remember this: you do not teach English--you teach students... English is only the subject. Embrace your position, the authority that comes with it, and build relationships from there. You have chosen a fantastic career path! Have a great week!
Tom
Congrats on the new job -- I think the middle school kids need the good teachers more than the elementary or the senior high kids so YOU GO GIRL!!! I'm glad to see a post from you again... I thought maybe you'd lost interest. I'll look forward to hearing about your classroom adventures.
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