The Start....

When I started this year, I had the idea that I was going to start a blog of a first year teacher. Well....it is now April 11....and this is my first post. I guess that Rome wasn't built in a day....

Thanks to a great presenter at a 1:1 meeting, I decided that it was about time that I actually begin this "journey". I often read blogs (mostly Cubs related) and have always wanted to have my own. What I have always wondered is how people come up with the ideas for them. I am hoping that I am not going to be one of those bloggers that dies out after only a week or two...

My original idea was to post a blog every day or two about the sorrows and joys of being a first year teacher. Since I have missed the last nine months or so, I am going to try and pack all of these highs and lows into a succinct post. This should be interesting....

I should start with the basics. I am 23 years old, a first year teacher, former college baseball player, middle school English teacher, book nerd, Cubs and Packers fanatic, and teaching in the school district that I graduated from. Baseball is a huge passion of mine- it has been ridiculously difficult to not be around college baseball this year. One of the difficult things about going back to the school that you grew up in, is that people often don't realize that people have changed/grown up. Lots of people still felt like I was the same 17 year old that I was when I graduated from high school- this could be both good and bad! It also takes some time to adjust to teaching next to someone that was your old teacher!

The school district that I teach in is going 1:1 Apple MacBook Air computers next year, and the 6th graders were the "pilot" group for this. I teach both 6th and 7th grade English- so all 6th graders having a computer and the 7th not was quite a difference! Next year, all students from grades 6-12 will have a computer. Being a first year teacher comes with its own share of headaches. Then you throw in being a pilot group for a 1:1 school and it can become a little overwhelming. Then throw in coaching football, basketball and baseball.... It is safe to say that there were many times that I was in WAY over my head this year. Luckily for me, I teach with an amazing group of people who were always there to help me out. If nothing else, they were an ear for my voice to land on.

At the start of the year, I thought that I was semi-tech savvy. Wow, was I wrong. There are so many things that I had no clue about and have to be helped by students and staff. We have a wonderful Tech Director that is always willing to come in and help teach students things that are above my ability level. Looking back at the year, I did a very poor job of using the technology as well as I could have. I already see many different ways that I can integrate much more efficiently next year. I really like the idea of having some sort of a semi-flipped classroom.  I think that this would really lend itself well to English. Being able to be with students as they are trying to craft a paper or assignment would be awesome. I am not sure exactly how it would look- but that is something that I really want to look into this summer.

The technology was very overwhelming at times- and that was on top of trying to figure out the "ins and outs" of having your own classroom. Student teaching is a great time to try and learn things about your teaching style, but even there, you are not really learning what YOUR style is. I found myself shifting towards the teacher that I was with- rather than "my own way".  Trying to figure out all the small things that go into a classroom was something that proved to be much more difficult than I first thought that it might have been. There are so many small decisions that either make your classroom a good learning environment or not. I am not quite there yet, but I feel as though I am headed in the right direction.

Coaching has made for some very late nights this year. I think that I should have invested in Mountain Dew stock. That could have been a nice addition to my retirement portfolio. Coaching may have added many hours onto the day, but the stress relief was undeniable. It was nice to be able to leave the day behind and walk out to the football field or down the high school gym and just forget about the day for a couple of hours. Then, when it was time to do school work, my mind was refreshed and ready to get back to work again.

I feel as though it is very important for middle school boys to have positive male role models in their life. Many students are lacking these in their life- I hope that I can fill that void for a couple of hours a day. It may not make a huge difference, but I hope that it can make some sort of an impact. I am lucky enough to have a job that I truly love coming to. I get to wake up each morning excited to come to work. That is something that very few people are able to say. I still have many, many things to learn over the rest of my career, but I am very excited to keep learning and finding new ways to improve my teaching/coaching (I can take all the help that I can get!).

Hopefully you will join me in this journey! I always appreciate any feedback that I get!