The Whirlwind

The most amazing thing about this first teaching year is definitely the non-stop, 120 miles per hour, head-spinning, being-pulled-in-240-directions-at-once tornado of days and weeks that it is. It feels like I was on my fall break yesterday, then I realize that that was almost 3 weeks ago! Since then we had parent teacher conferences. It was awesome to meet so many parents and start to work together to help the students learn, but it was 4 hours of meetings without a chance for a breath. Wow. Of course, there are so many kinds of parents and students; some are very interested, some are a little interested, some are happy, and some are not satisfied. We all have one thing in common though, we want the kids to succeed. It's an wild experience for a new teacher to see all these different families one after another and realize we are all connected through this classroom.

Then as soon as that was over, it's back to work. It was time to rev up to the end of our 3rd unit (already). That means another essay. Sometimes I think that the biggest success for the kids may be just getting past the nervousness of writing an essay. It causes a bit of a panic. We almost spend an entire class just giving the instructions and gathering the energy to give it a try. I wonder if I was like that when I was their age? (It's much to long ago to remember). Then it's time to quickly grade all the end-of-unit work and get the next unit started strong.

Meanwhile all the fall holiday events are starting; carnival, dances, car wash BBQs, bake sales, fundraising events, visits from motivational speakers, pep rallies, and, my favorite, my first official review. If I can take the experienced teachers vibe as a hint, this is something to be nervous about. The judgement of 1 day of 1 administrator observing 1 lesson (or 1/2 a lesson), could decide my future at the school. No pressure. And all of this is cutting into lessons and making short schedule days as we lead up to a week off at Thanksgiving, which means we will lose all momentum on the novel we start next week. The fun thing about seeing a train wreck coming is that your on the track, there is no turning left or right. One thing is for sure, it is not boring. The life of a first year middle school teacher is like seeing who can stay in the washing machine the longest :)
Peace.