Last year I read this in the blogs of second-year teachers and it made me want to cry, but it turns out it's true: It is infinitely better being a second-year teacher than it is being a first-year teacher. It was very satisfying to walk into the building today and move my time card, search out my new mailbox (already full of information) and greet people I hadn't seen all summer. (It didn't hurt that last year on the first day of school I did not receive a schedule, an office, a desk, keys, or any darn clue what I was supposed to be doing there, whereas this year I have all of these things!)
There were even people I could gravitate towards sitting myself with (my second grade team!), and I got to share the news that I had gotten engaged over the summer, which led to a lot of hugs and congratulations and oohing over my ring and questions about how and when the proposal happened, whether we had set a date, and so on. We've been engaged two months now, so getting to re-live it in the presence of many excited female colleagues was fun.
All in all, I am remarkably not nervous about this year, a mood that will either serve me well or blow up in my face when things turn out to be more difficult than I expected. But for now, I'm just enjoying the feeling, as teeny-tiny as it may be, of kinda sorta knowing what I'm doing...if only a little bit.
2 comments:
Congratulations on getting engaged!
And you're going to have a great year with the kids :)
My first year was better than my second. Maybe it was because we were in department mode instead of teams. Moreover, there was much teacher turnover. Lastly, I felt that during my first year that messing up wouldn't get me in big trouble (because it was part of the new learning experience). However, I think my crappy 2nd year had more to do with changes in school than other factors. If my school hadn't radically changed in year 2, I probably would have had a better 2nd year . . .
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