AuburnChick's Adventures

This afternoon, I left my classroom around 3pm, ready to head home after a week of prep work.

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The things I’d hidden away in June had been pulled out…the room reset.

Thanks to one of my school’s secretaries, my tables were located and needed only to be rearranged.  My favorite art teacher lent his muscle and helped me move the extra furniture out (see the before and after pictures below).

I’d loaded up my car with my much-beloved mini-fridge and boxes of notebooks and folders…an overflowing bag of novels balanced precariously on top…just another day at the office.

I’d created a poster for my door, following a template I’d first seen on Facebook and later printed from this website (found the markers at Joann’s Fabrics).

Although my teacher computer wouldn’t work the past two days, I didn’t let that stop me.

I rearranged books and created lesson plans.  I set up students in Remind 101, Plickers, ClassDojo, and my Smartboard response system.

I spent a lot of time with a couple of newbie teachers in my department, hired a scant few days ago.

They were stressing…majorly.  My heart went out to them.

Despite the numerous in-service meetings and endless to-do list, something strange has occurred.

I feel at peace.

I’m enjoying a calm that has eluded me the night before the first day of school in all of my previous years of teaching.

I don’t know most of the students who will enter my room tomorrow.  I have only talked with one, actually, and that was because he was good friends with a student I taught last year.

I’ll have over fifty new names and faces to memorize.

I remain serene.

I talked about this to Cinda, my friend and mentor.  She happened to call me early this afternoon while I was still at school.

She expressed pleasure at how far she’s seen me travel the past four years that she’s known me.  Though I expressed trepidation at teaching an ESE class this year, she allayed my fears and told me that I possessed the skills to teach these students…that she’d witnessed how I created relationships with children…how my classroom management provided much-needed structure and consistency.

And so I’ll head to bed after spending time in God’s Word.

I’ll thank Him for the confidence that the past five years has provided.

I’ll ask for His nudging when it’s time to wake up…I’ve set three alarms just to be sure.

I’ll read my First 5 devotion before I get out of bed, and I’ll spend time in prayer.

Then, I’ll greet my day, genuinely excited…eager to greet a new group of 9th grade homeroom students (my 12th grade homeroom kiddos graduated this past May after we spent four years together).

Ready or not, here I come…jumping eagerly into my sixth year of teaching.

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: first day of school, teaching | 1 Comment »

It is official.

I am a teacher.

I have been waiting 20 years to utter these words.

Today, I sort-of jumped out of bed at the oh-so-early hour of 5:30.

I only hit the snooze button three times instead of my usual six.

It’s funny how having a purpose does that to you.

Oh, I know that, as a child of God, I have a purpose, but it was invigorating to know that when I got up, the thing I had dreamed about for so very long had finally come to fruition.

It seemed fitting to have Chicky take my First Day of School picture.  After all, I’ve been taking pictures of the kids on their first day of school each year since they started kindergarten.

When I got to school, Jane, another first-year teacher, looked at me with the same expression that I had seen reflected in the mirror only minutes earlier.

True to form, I had my camera and insisted we take pictures.  It was a moment that we would never have again, and it needed to be captured for eternity (or until we accidentally delete them).

So, just like the teenagers we have chosen to surround ourselves with, we acted like a couple of girls and took pictures…ones of us by ourselves, some of us together.  We used both of our classrooms as our backdrops.

It was probably the most excited I’ve ever been on the first day of a new job.

But see, there’s the thing.

To me, this is not a job.

This is a passion, long-delayed and much sought-after.

As the bell rang, I stood at the door, waiting for my first students to arrive.

I remembered my posture, stood up straight, and beamed a smile that could have been seen from outer space.

I am a teacher.

Sweet music to my ears.

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: first day of school, teaching | 6 Comments »