My First Few Weeks

My first few weeks of teaching have been good, great, okay, bad, tough, happy, sad, ugly. I’ve been riding a giant roller coaster of some good/some bad, some great/some awful.

I’ve got students telling parents they have no chair in my class. “Why yes, I do make him stand, he is absolutely correct!” is instead, “his name tag came off his desk but I assure you, he does physically have a chair to sit in.”

I’ve got ones that tell parents they have no homework..“Yes, they have homework every night..yes, I do tell them to write the homework down.”

Then I have the students I have to respond to:

“Please don’t make your mother jokes in class”

“No, I am not 21.”

“Yes, I did have to graduate from college to be a teacher.”

“A gold dollar is worth a dollar.”

and my favorite comment and reply?

“Please stop calling me Mrs…I am not married.”

“YOU AREN’T?”

The First Few Weeks

I’m not just about summer sweat of course, as evidenced by the name of this blog. It happens to be a passion and something I enjoy doing in my free time but I haven’t forgotten to include some things about life and teaching on this space either.

I’ve officially completed 2 of my 6 weeks of induction/institute training for Teach for America and today, had my first official day as a teacher.

These past two weeks have been great. In fact, this is the best away-from-home learning I’ve ever had. Every other time I go to a training, I leave underwhelmed, confused and not sure what I’m doing.

Here, I feel confident in myself, my ability and my commitment to learning and getting better. I am on a similar page to people, I am open and I’m getting to know myself and others.

The experience is definitely tiring. Getting up at 5:30 AM has not gotten easier and I don’t know how I used to get up at 4:45 to go to the gym. It’s no wonder I used to be sick and tired all the time! While not physically demanding, I leave drained. It’s mentally exhausting listening and thinking, discussing, etc. for so many hours a day. The content is interesting though and the work enjoyable so at least I don’t feel the time is wasted.

As for the work, manageable. I had heard so many horror stories about the amount of work, the stress, the etc. Maybe it’s just me, but I am caught up, confident in my abilities and happy with what I am producing. I have been able to make it to the gym, head out to the store and do other things in my “free” time besides work on work. I’m surprised and incredibly happy with the way things are going so far. Crossing my fingers it’s not just a beginners luck type of thing 🙂

I’m finally content with what I’m doing right now. I have a direction, I have a focus and I’m committed to something whole heartedly. This is good. It’s what I’ve been searching for and  just what I’ve needed.