The Joys of Teaching...and it hasn't even started yet!

I just finished my 6th orientation session and it is safe to say that I’m tired, overwhelmed, worn-out, and can now completely understand why my high school teachers were so temperamental, even on the first day of school! You know, when my teacher friends told me that it wasn’t the teaching they didn’t like, but everything else, I had no idea what they meant. And I, in my own arrogant way, thought to myself “What else could you have to do?” Now don’t everyone jump on me at once, but I figured that since teachers teach all day long , there wasn’t much else to do. But now I know!

I was sucked in. They suck you in! I don’t know who they are, but they do it. Let me tell you. The first three sessions were okay. We (the new teachers) worked on lesson plans, classroom rules, met other teachers, looked at North Carolina standards, and even talked about ways to set up our classrooms. But now? Oh, now we learn about classes we have to take, workshops we have to attend throughout the year(s), and all the other wonderful forms and reports we have to fill out...all year long! Then we learned about how to talk with parents, the types of students we’ll have in our class and how to teach to each learning style, the various disabilities and how we have to adapt to them. Then there were behavioral disorders, class management skills, class consequences, not to mention what we as professionals must do to keep our certification current. I swear by the time I left I was thinking, “And when am I suppose to teach?”

So here I am buried in papers and massaging my hands trying to delay the effects of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (did I spell that right??). But you know what? After having my head swimming with all sorts of information and wondering how I’m going to successfully teach each child with a different learning style all on different levels...take a breath...I’m still excited about teaching. That’s what’s important, right? Here’s to another road trip!