It is hard to believe that the first quarter of school is already done! I have completed one quarter of my first year of teaching. It is amazing how fast it goes by. It’s also a bit scary because before I know it will be June. I just hope that I will be able to look back and say “Yes it was a struggle, but I made a difference.”
For those who have not done their first quarter report cards yet, believe me they take a lot of time. I was never prepared for doing report cards. I had watched my supervising teacher do them during my student teaching and I obviously gave input into the grades but I still didn’t see everything that went into it. My friends would describe me as a procrastinator, but I truly thought that I had overcome it. I have been so on top of everything this year, thus far, because I knew I would have to be. I prepped and planned and did everything I could to get my work done and not save it all for the last minute. Unfortunately, I can not say the same for my report cards. I was so overwhelmed with the thought of having to actually sit down and do them along with everything else I have to do during a given week that I just decided to leave them all for the weekend. My neighbor watched me carry two boxes of notebooks and folders into my house one Friday afternoon. Knowing that I am a teacher he asked me “what grade do you teach again?” and I told him 2nd grade and he said “that’s a lot of grading for second grade!” and I let him know it was report card time! I had brought home 3 notebooks and 4 folders for each of my 19 students. My entire weekend was overcome with grading and diligently spending time trying to understand what the grades truly meant. I had never used a grading system that used O, G, S, and N’s and it was something that I had to get used to. I spent a great deal of time reading over the descriptors of what the different marks stood for. Once I felt like I had a solid understanding of what an O, G, S, and N meant for my students I surrounded myself with their interactive notebooks on my living room floor. My roommates thought I was crazy, wasting my entire weekend, the only time that I pretend that I actually have a life, but I had brought it upon myself. I spent every waking moment reading these notebooks and going through their folders. Another first year teacher and I met up on Sunday and spent 3 hours at a Starbucks, motivating each other to finish our report cards. It truly did take over my weekend and I was looking them over up until 5 minutes before they needed to be turned in, but I needed to feel confident in every grade that I was giving because I knew I would have to support them during parent teacher conferences. I decided soon that for the next set of report cards, which I am sure will be upon me before I can even blink, that I will be doing one subject per night for the week leading up to when grades are due.
Currently, I am home in Massachusetts enjoying some time off from school while the kids are enjoying intersession. I decided that teaching the first intersession probably wouldn’t be the best idea for me since I was definitely ready for a little break. If you have never heard of intersession, as I hadn’t before I interviewed in FCPS, it comes at the end of every quarter for modified calendar schools. Since we just finished our first quarter we now have 2 weeks of intersession. It is optional for students to attend, but most do. It is also an option for teachers to teach the enrichment type classes. My kids were so excited about intersession because it is a little break from the norm and they have the chance to take some classes that they are truly excited about.
Everyone told me how hard my first year of teaching was going to be. After the amount of time and effort that I put into student teaching I thought I was prepared for it, but I was in no way prepared for how this job was going to take over my life. I love my new life, I love going to school each day, but school, and everything that goes into it, is my life right now and I have accepted the fact that it will be for awhile. For anyone that has moved to a new city, be it here or somewhere else, you know how hard it is to feel comfortable and truly enjoy your new home. Now add to that being a first year teacher, it’s easy to allow your job to completely be your life. It’s not like college, where it’s easy to meet new people and everyone is new to the situation. Without my roommates and some teachers I’ve met at school my adjustment would be much harder. I have realized that I need to start having a life outside of school. Has anyone else felt this way? Are there any other first year teachers that feel like this? I guess the first step would be leaving school before 6:30 every day. It just always feels like there is so much to do. I haven’t been able to get to the point where I can just leave something unfinished. I want to be the best teacher possible and I am so motivated to do it, but am I going about it the right way?