Reflection

Tonight was a totally appropriate night for some old-blog-reading relfection. I've been going through the Jefferson County "New Teacher Induction" all week long, and it's been a doozy! Lots of lectures, workshops, powerpoint presentations and whatnot, while many many teachers from all grade levels sit around and tell each other how much they hate the whole thing and how much they'd rather be in their classrooms. I learned a long time ago that complaining is toxic to an effective environment, and although I'm guilty of the occasionaly complaint or two, I truly believe that these other teachers did a lot more complaining than I've ever heard before...but by the end of the week we were all glad we went. It's nice to know that your county cares enough about you to give you food and information for a whole week prior to your starting your first teaching job.

So, tonight I was looking through my old posts and realized that this blog has been a great chronicle of my life as a teacher. I didn't intend for it to be that way, but that's the form my writing has taken.

And I'm so glad!

I read through some of my old posts - the ones about the hippie bus and the F word and the chicken hatching - and I realized right away, that this is the best job in the world. I hope this blog will serve as the vehicle for many, many more funny, insipiring stories of fourth grade students. I firmly believe that they can teach me so much more than I can teach them. I know that my kids next year (which I will meet next week!) will be so different from the kids I had last year, but I'm positive that these kids will have just as much, if not more, to offer than those kids from my old school. I can't wait to see their smiles, learn about their sense of humor, and help them through a ten year old's triumphs and troubles. I was born to be a teacher, and I'm so glad I get to go it AGAIN next school year!