|
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Monday, August 11, 2008 |
| First-Year Finish! |
| My year as a first year teacher has ended. Although I do not mind giving up the title, I know that there will never be a year as special as this. This was definitely a year of many, many firsts, not just teaching my first class, but building relationships with other colleagues. When I look back, my favorite memories are those of the ones that I have from teaching small groups. During our literacy block, there were four literacy workstations--three student-centered and one teacher-directed. I organized the students into four different groups of about four people per group. Once a group came to me, this was my time to really gauge how they were doing and not only included making informal assessments of their literacy skills, but assessing how they were doing in life. It gave me a chance to have little, real life conversations and over time, helped us build and maintain a strong student-teacher relationship. Having lived in the same town all my life and attended my home state university with former high school classmates, in the beginning of the school year (for the first time in my life) I found myself at a place where I did not know a single person. Frankly, I was very nervous. Now, I have not only talked with every teacher at my school, but have built friendships with many. I realize that the best professional support comes from other teachers and was lucky enough to have a solid team of second grade teachers AND a teacher who chose to become my mentor. Not only did she support me by giving me suggestions on how to supplement my curriculum, she was always my cheerleader, always reminding me that I could do it. I believe my success as a first year teacher was greatly due to this strong support system. Despite the budget cuts, I was asked back at my school! I will be teaching fourth grade next school year and am so excited! Although this will be another first, I will take what I have learned from this year and adapt to my new experience. I cannot wait to get back to school and start a new challenge! |
posted by njm at
8:21 AM
 |
2005 © New Teacher News
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home