Making the Transition

OK, so obviously I'm going to need to sharpen my skills when it comes to keeping up with my blog. This is a goal for my first year. I've wanted to write a blog for many years and have lacked the focus I though it needed. Now that I have a primary focus, I must make the serious effort to keep it going. I have followers; this is important.

Last Wednesday, I arrived at the Board of Education office at 8:15 am to experience my first taste of the teaching career I have chosen. I eagerly walked in to the boardroom with a sparkling smile on my face. It felt like the first day of school. Everyone was seated by themselves and not talking to those around them. I recognized a man I knew from my days as office assistant as University Housing in college, and proceeded to sit next to him. Upon further investigation, I discovered he would teaching 11th and 12th grades English at the high school in the county. He is also a first-year teacher.

The time came and the orientation officially began. Topics covered included ethics, assessment, state-mandated testing, sexual harrassment, e-mail, and dress code. And since I've brought up the subject of dress code, let me say I was simply appalled at the clothing these new teachers decided to wear. There were Old Navy flip-flops, tank tops, gym shorts, tennis shoes, and deep v-neck shirts. There were a number of Georgia College and State University John H. Lounsbury College of Education graduates present who were, like me, beginning their teaching career that day. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw how they were dressed as compared to the others in the room; shirts and ties, closed-toe shoes, suits, cardigans, and tops that covered everything. I feel most confident when I am dressed professionally in a professional situation. I was wearing a white, black, and red skirt with a simple black top, minimal jewelry, simple shoes, and that winning sparkly smile I mentioned earlier. This was my chance to make a memorable first impression on many people. Many of these people I have met before and interacted with in several avenues during my student teaching in the county; however, this was my chance to make a new impression on them not as Ms. Herring, student teacher, but Ms. Herring, educator and professional.

After our information meetings, we made our way to lunch where we were supposed to dine with our principals and mentor teachers. As I walked into the lunchroom, I noticed that the principals were sitting at one table, and I was never informed of who my mentor teacher would be. Did they think I didn't need one since I had been at the school, in the grade level and subject the year before? Or did they think I didn't need an assigned mentor teacher because I was working in an inclusive classroom with another, more-experienced teacher? I didn't know and I haven't had a chance to ask. However, I have been utilizing many teachers in my grade and on my hallway as resources for anything from where I can get a desk with drawers to how can I get my Promethean board connected to my computer. They have all been extremely supportive.

My first official day of pre-planning, last Thursday, was overwhelming and definitely information overloaded, I'll be honest. I drove home admist tears overflowing from my eyes. I found relief in a nap upon arriving home. Friday was much, much better, in every sense. I attended a new teachers meeting with the principals, where I discovered I was the only first-year teacher in the entire school; this was both scary and exciting at the same time. I was also the only new teacher present at the meeting who had previously had experience in the school and the county system.

I have slowly begun to make the transition from student teacher to educator. I am feeling more and more professional every day. This is feeling more and more real every day.

Tomorrow is Open House. I finally get to meet my kids for the year, and maybe more importantly, their parents and guardians. Slowly my room has come together but it still needs some work.

This year is going to be a year of trial and error; trial and adjustment, really. I am living the dream. This is a dream ten years in the making. I am teaching the very grade level where ten years ago I decided I wanted to teach middle school. This is an awe-inspiring moment for me, and I hope this feeling continues.

The Longest Day of My Life

I start work tomorrow.

I am officially a new teacher tomorrow.

I get a school email and keys to my classroom.

I get a spiffy nametag that will say "Ms. Herring" on it (without the John H. Lounsbury College of Education logo).

My dental plan kicks in tomorrow.

This is crazy. Today is the longest day of my life, or that's how it feels at least. I wish I could get a handle on my emotions right now. I'm up then I'm down.

I'm literally all over the place; running around my apartment trying to get all my things together for my new year. I have so many books. SO MANY BOOKS! Books for me as a teacher, books for my students. It's becoming a problem.

Tomorrow at 8:30 am, I start New Teacher Orientation. I've been trying to get someone to help me pick out the perfect outfit for days, but it just doesn't seem to be working.

I am terrified and excited. The math teacher on my team is hosting a senior middle grades cohort student from my college. In fact I know the new student teacher quite well; this should be interesting.

I have been trying to enjoy my last day of summer vacation, but my excitement is getting the best of me.

Last week I met my co-teacher. This is going to be a great year.

My best friend is a 4th grade teacher in the Atlanta area. We are already working on ways to integrate our classrooms. Yes, you can connect 7th and 4th graders.

I am so scattered right now and I apologize. There are two women I know who are going into their second year as teachers (they were members of the senior middle grades cohort, MAGIC, when I was a junior in FRESH...JHLCOE grads will understand the references). They have given me countless pieces of advice and have showered me with compliments and prayers. I know the first year of teaching is going to be crazy but I'm going to do my best to make it crazy fun, also. I have an incredibly strong support system going into this and I am extremely blessed to be at this point in my life...finally.

Now it's finally time to create my new life in the middle.

I've Got My Big Girl Panties On, So I'll Just Deal With It

Last week I experienced several big moments in my newly-forming career in education. Tuesday night I met with my co-teacher and her husband at a sushi restaurant in downtown Milledgeville. We laughed and joked about funny quirks we had in common that had little to do with classrooms and school. We then continued our fun night at a coffee shop listening to my fiance and some others play guitar. A great time was had by all.

Wednesday morning came and I received a phone call from my principal, my boss. I was informed I was being moved to seventh grade language arts inclusion instead of the eighth grade classroom I had grown accustomed to earlier. I was a little heartbroken, but not defeated.

See, the way I look at it is I have a whole drawer in my filing cabinet dedicated to seventh grade language arts; it was the grade and subject area in which I did my student teaching. I can pull from a number of lessons and projects I have extensive experience with. I also fit well within the seventh grade family at my new school since I was there not too long ago as a student teacher. I know the principal, the staff, and most importantly the secretary; if you know the secretary, you can pretty much get anything you need because they are truly the ones who make the school run.

I'm trying to be positive and energetic about most things right now. My extensive experience with seventh grade, and this school in general, will allow me to participate in extra-curricular activities that are close to my heart, like Relay for Life and drama/theater, without overextending myself...hopefully.

I moved to Macon this past weekend, thus creating a 35 mile commute from my new home to work. This morning I listened to "Today's Middle Level Educator," a podcast put together by the National Middle School Association. One of my educator heroes, Ross Burkhardt, was the guest on an episode entitled "Building Positive Professional Relationships...and Dealing With Those Who Refused to Do So." It was a fitting subject seeing as how I'm going in to an environment where I once had a different identity and am trying to establish myself in a new light.

The best piece of advice I took away from the session was when Mr. Burkhardt said, "You cannot be what you cannot see." How can we expect the young adolescents in our lives to be respectful or to act in an appropriate way if it has never been modeled for them. It is no excuse. We are to model ways of acting for students. We are to model professional relationships to help them see how adults should handle troubling situations. We cannot expect them to absorb things through osmosis...they must be exposed to such things and be able to learn them for themselves.

I am known to the many students with which I've worked over the past few years as a goofball, if you can believe it. One of my favorite and best goofball activities is making up songs about the students or about particular events in and out of the classroom. I have a good morning song, a goodbye song, a pencil-sharpening song, a reading song, and on and on. My latest and greatest composition comes in the form of a song entitled "The Positivity Song." I sing it at the top of my lungs when I feel myself becoming impatient with students and with other camp counselors. Now, this doesn't mean I am modeling random singing for my students but it does mean that the best way to handle an annoying or irritating situation is to remain positive and take it on! This is something I have struggled with my whole life and will continue to work on, especially in my professional life.

Remember:

"It's the positivity song!

Positivity all day long!

positivity! POSItivity! POSITIVITY!!!!!!

It's the positivity song!

I make it up as I go along!

positivity! POSItivity! POSITIVITY!!!!!!

It's the positivity song!

It helps me get along!

positivity! POSItivity! POSITIVITY!!!!!!