I'm a little disappointed. I was certain that I wouldn't be working quite as hard this year, but instead, I'm really putting in the same hours. I'm staying at work late every day and still bringing work home which I was not supposed to ever do! And again this year, it's not like I'm doing anything super extraordinary or time-consuming. I'm really just fulfilling my basic job requirements. It seems to be just the fact I'm teaching a new course at a new school. My mentor teacher says that the first year at a new school is always like your first year all over again in terms of how much time you put into it.
But, you know, I don't really mind all that much. Last night (Sunday), I kind of had a panic attack flash back from last year. I suddenly got kind of freaked out thinking about how I wasn't ready for Monday morning. This time, though, I truly wasn't. I went to work about an hour early today to get stuff done I was planning on doing Sunday night. The point, though, is that now that the day is over, I feel fine again. Sure my lesson plan went totally bust, but I remembered that I like these kids a lot more than the ones I had last year, as a whole. Not that they are better kids individually, but that their behavior is at a place where even if my lesson plan falls apart, they don't start running around in circles, fighting, cussing, or yelling at me. They wait patiently until the rest of the class has caught up.
Today fell apart because it took way longer to teach the kids how to do stuff on their laptops than I had anticipated. It was very confusing showing them how to back up files to the server and turn stuff in to me online. But having trouble showing kids how to use laptops is the kind of problem I enjoy having. It's better than figuring out a way to get 50 students to type up papers when you don't have a single computer in the room.
On a more personal note, the reason I didn't do any work this weekend is I went camping. How fun is that? I had a great time and wasn't thinking about work-stress at all.
In class, we've wrapped up learning about the scientific method and the characteristics of living things. This week, we'll be doing a a sort of scientific method-cumulative lab with pill bugs (a.k.a. roly polies) and taking our first test. The first test I gave last year was a disaster. I sure hope this year some kids pass my test.
Talk to y'all later
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4 comments:
That's not reassuring. I'm a first year teacher wondering if I really want to spend a second year taking this much time away from my 2 young children again next year. Perhaps I should wait a few years to take this on.
mstacken@hotmail.com
Being a mother and a new teacher must be incredible! I marvel at how all the other mom teachers leave work at 3:30. But, that does reassure me that next year when I am teaching this same course again at the same school, my work load should be much less. I spend the majority of my time lesson planning, so that burden should be at least cut in half the second time around.
Anyway, good luck with everything!
Thank you for posting this! I feel like this is another year 1 for me in so many ways (new school, new grade, floating, etc). However, like you said, if I'm still teaching the same subject and grade next year, it's gonna be a breeze :).
what a relief it is to see that other people are having the same struggles as i am!!
i am a "first year" teacher of third grade.
i feel as though so many parts of my life have been sacrificed for my job. i have very little time for a social life and i work at least 60 hours a week. all i want to do is sleep!
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