I Survived

I made it through my first year of teaching and my students may have actually learned a little something. If not English and work ethic, at least a little about life, respect, and some manners.

While my last day with my seniors was actually last week, graduation was not until Thursday night. When I was preparing for graduation, I thought I was going to cry and that I might get all emotional about my first graduating class moving on to the next step in their lives. I surprised myself. I didn’t cry at all. I didn’t even get choked up when one of my favorite students (the salutatorian) started crying at the podium as she thanked her parents. I did sit there through the entire ceremony beaming with pride and cheered on each and every name that was called, but I didn’t cry. Instead I felt accomplished. I felt as if I actually did something good this year, that I contributed something to someone other than myself and my immediate family. 

While teaching is a very time consuming and mentally draining job, it is also by far the most rewarding thing I have ever done for work. I thoroughly enjoyed the year even the tough times, when I thought I was going to lose all my hair from the stress of grading, lesson planning, moving, taking care of my own family and attending and participating in their various activities. Now I can sit back, relax, breathe again, look back and realize how far I have come and how much I have accomplished. I still have four more days of work before I am truly on summer break, but Professional Development is nothing compared to being in the classroom. I don’t have to have every minute of the day planned and prepared. I don’t have to be “on” (ready to answer any questions and explain things in detail with a smile on my face). All I really have to do is absorb the information shared with me and make some plans for next year including how I will adjust my curriculum to include the information that I learn over the next week. 

Overall my first year of teaching went really well. While I didn’t see the amount of improvement that I would like to see from my students, I did at least see some growth, which is great considering I’ve never taught before and didn’t go to school to teach. I would say it wasn’t bad for my first year. And I’d like to believe I am only going to get better as I actually learn how to teach. The feedback I got from my students was really encouraging. They all complained about the amount of work and homework I gave them, but then told me I was one of their favorite teachers and this was the most they had learned in high school. It felt good to read their brutally honest responses. I felt like I had connected with my students over the course of the year and from what they wrote about me on their last day of school, apparently they felt they too had connected with me. 

I do have to say I am more than ready to have and enjoy my summer break. I haven’t had this amount of time off since I was on maternity leave with my last baby. And let’s be honest maternity leave isn’t really time off. I’m looking forward to enjoying free time with the boys, swimming and playing. I’m also excited to finally have the chance to unpack the rest of the house and possibly complete some home improvement projects. My goals for the summer are to get into a healthy routine that takes care of both my mental and physical health. That means I will be changing my diet yet again, focusing on eliminating everything I’m allergic to and making sure I’m eating less processed foods and eating more whole natural and organic foods. I’m also going to start exercising again, walking the dogs and practicing yoga daily. Who knows, I may even get crazy and start strength training again (something I haven’t done since before kids). Most importantly, this summer I’m going to create again. That is what I missed most this school year, was creating, everything from writing to getting crafty with my sewing machine and my Cricut. So guaranteed, I am going to spend a lot of time this summer creating.