Looking Forward to My First Year Teaching

Quick Update

            I decided to take a break during the month of July (never mind that that wasn’t originally the plan, but it turned out to be a nice break anyways). July was filled with work at my part time job, applications, interviews, paperwork, and finally a vacation. I wanted to update you quickly on my job search before I get into the actual post. I GOT A FULL TIME TEACHING JOB! As with student teaching, I probably won’t be writing specifically about the full time job until later, as I don’t want to violate the privacy of my students and the school that I work for. Nevertheless, I do have one and I will be writing about what I’m learning and experiencing this coming school year, albeit in general terms.

The Circle Starts Again

            Oddly enough, my thoughts this summer resemble my thoughts last summer, before I started student teaching. Although I’ve technically already spent an entire year as a teacher, as opposed to being a student, this will be my first year as a full time teacher. So here I am again filled with excitement and apprehension as I look toward the upcoming school year. I again know that I will learn a lot in this coming year and that I will probably make some mistakes along the way. Like before, I have a lot of questions that I am hoping will be answered soon and everything will just fall into place.

Resolving Old Fears

            As of a couple of weeks ago, some of my fears from last year were still relevant.

What if I don’t make enough money once I graduate to cover my student loans, let alone have enough money to live on? What if I can’t even get a job because I fail at all of my interviews? How will I survive over the summer? Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh…b 

But I got a job! I didn’t fail all of my interviews. In fact, I got positive reviews from quite a number 

of interviews. Also apparently this one liked me so much that they are willing to take a chance on a 

first year teacher. Plus I can safely say that this is the least experienced I will ever be in my career 

from this point forward. That’s strangely comforting.

Having New Fears and Qs

            I am always improving, always learning, always growing, always gaining more experience and becoming more employable. A lot of people tried to scare me about the “real” world. For the most part they succeeded, but not because they were right, but because I am so easily scared. But I’ve learned I’ve got less to worry about than I thought I did. Now I have new fears (thankfully fewer than before) and new questions. What if I am super stressed and unable to function? What if I drown in grading? What kind of a teacher will I be? What will my students be like? Will I come to love some of them, dread some of them? What will it be like to have coworkers? Not just mentor teachers and student teacher relationships, and full time teacher and substitute teacher relationships, but actually teacher and teacher coworkers? Will I feel more confident in myself?

What About You?

            We’ll have to wait and see. Anyone else starting their first year of teaching? What are your fears? What are your hopes? What kind of questions are you having? If you are a more veteran teacher, what was your first year of teaching like? Got any advice for first year teachers? Let me know in the comments.

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Image Credit: "Bringing Geek-Chic to New Heights" by Juhan Sonin