I graduated from college in the spring of 2007, and landed a job on my thirteenth interview as a 6th grade teacher at Waterloo Intermediate-Middle School. The beginning of the school year started out a little rocky... The second day of new teacher inservice, I hit a pole in the school parking lot--busted my car's radiator, sending green fluid all over the parking space I had pulled into. I had totaled the car I had just paid off three months prior! Luckily, my parents (who lived two hours away) had a car I could borrow until I, sadly on a new teacher salary, bought a new one. I can't say that there is any "success" that can be learned or earned from this, but I can say that I am more aware of poles in parking lots! Oh yeah, Waterloo never let me forget about the incident. When I went into Waterloo this summer to resign (I took a position in a different district), I was reminded to watch out for poles in the new school parking lot!
The failure I learned from and probably made me the success I am today...I will fully admit, I was very laid back when I first began teaching; I honestly thought, how bad can 6th graders really be, there is nothing I can't handle! Guess again, Nicole! I spent many class periods retraining my students in December, wasting curriculum time to discipline, instead of setting my expectations at the beginning of the year. Many evenings wondering what kinds of things my students were going to pull on me the next day; many mornings sick to my stomach. I learned so much the first year, mostly about classroom management and what I needed and wanted to expect from my students. My second year was MUCH better! I found the balance between "being friends" and having relationships with my students, and my expectations. From my horrible classroom management experience, I feel I've become a teacher with strong connections with students because I learned the best balance; my students know there is mutual respect in my classroom!
PS. Classroom Management was the issue I shared with my sister when she started her first year last year...she did much better with it than I did!
Nicole-
ReplyDeleteI have a similar story! On my way to my very first orientation meeting in Appleton, the front axle on my 10yr old Subaru GL snapped. I had to walk 2 miles to the meeting in the mid-August heat. Luckily, I could borrow some money to get the car fixed (it took a week) since I was broke - I did a lot of walking & used my spare change jar for food.
I learned not to fix old cars...just buy a new old car!