A Second Year Teacher

Although I haven't updated this blog in quite some time, I have not been eaten alive by high school students. In fact, I survived my first year of teaching and it went very well. I was lucky enough to be hired back in the same district and am now almost a third of the way through my second year teaching English at Roseville Area Schools!

Some things have changed, however. I am now traveling between two schools-- the high school in the morning and the junior high in the afternoon. That's a new beast, for sure. I never really expected to be traveling, let alone teaching SEVENTH GRADE. But I'm surviving it. And, like I keep telling everyone who asks what I think of it: It will make me a better teacher in the long run. I'm learning to be more patient, caring, and kind. But it doesn't really fit my usual sarcastic style and "suck-it-up" technique. I'm used to being able to reason with my students like adults, not hold their hand like children. But really, seventh graders are still children. It's amazing the changes they go through in just two years. I'm hoping that I'm still teaching at the high school in two years and that I have a chance to have some of them again when they've matured just a little. I'm wondering, though, how I can transfer some of what I'm learning to my old style. Right now, I just feel like two different teachers; I need to learn how to reconcile them.

But overall, I still really love my job. If I could go back and go through college all over again, I would do it just the same. I love working for this school district, I love working with my co-workers, and I especially love working with my students. There is no greater reward than hearing "Hi Ms. O!" in the hallway. So sappy, but so true!