Thursday, August 30, 2012

Workshop Woes

First of all, I want to apologize to any former teacher I've ever had. I understand now how much work you put into that first week of school, and I'm sorry that I never appreciated what you were doing. In fact, I'm sure you could read "I'd rather not be here right now" all over my face when I walked into your classroom on the first day of school.

Alright, I feel a little better now. My name is Ms. Hamilton, and I am a first-year, fresh-out-of-college, high school English teacher. Everyone always tells me that your first year is your best and worst year - you work your hardest, but you learn the most about yourself. I've already learned a few key things:

1. I am NOT a bulletin board person. Part of my day will be spent with 8th graders at the middle school, and let me tell you how much my room doesn't look like a middle school room. I love posters, and murals, and billions of pictures. But the idea of cutting out individual letters to spell out "8th Grade English" makes me think that middle school and elementary teachers are saints.

2. I AM a binder person. Plastic paper sleeves are going to save my life, as is the three-hole-punch. It's amazing how many pieces of paper will fit into a 3" binder, and I intend to use all 3 of those inches. I've never considered myself organized, but if there were a time to change that, this is the year. I'm sure there are many teachers reading this and laughing right now...who has time to be organized that first year, right? I'll let you know how it goes.

3. I feel very young all of a sudden. Yes, I did just graduate college, which puts me at a whopping 22 years of age. I'll be teaching students as close in age as me as 4 years. The best advice I've heard so far about this situation came from my aunt Maria: "Walk in there like you're 30, girl, and don't let them think anything different."

So. T-minus 5 days left until the first day of school. If I have any time left over after working with students, teachers, and principals, I intend to use this blog as an archive for experiences, resources, and words of advice and support for future teachers.