Hi y'all! This post is long overdue. I'm glad you don't expect these on a regular basis, because I am crappy at it. Anywho.
At the beginning of summer, I wrote and bragged about how I had just accepted a job, and I was now officially a teacher, Yipee! Several things have happened since then: I passed all the Praxis exams (first try), I actually have my license, I have had my first day of school (best & worst day), and no kids have gotten hurt or died on my watch! That's a success. I really meant to write another post once I moved, but that didn't happen, and then a post while I was a midst the craziness of prepping my classroom, also didn't happen, and a really important post after my first day. Well, today is the day after labor day, and we've been in school for over two weeks. Oops. I'll do my best to summarize the last three months.
Moving away from Hillsboro was really hard. I had a final lunch date with my summer boss before I left. She pointed out that if I was having trouble saying goodbye it only meant that I had connected, and really made my time worthwhile in that place. Three years ago I never would've imagined it would've been so hard to leave silly old Hillsboro and tiny Tabor. But it was. It was hard to leave friends, and the Christian community that had been home for three years. It was also hard because I knew one person moving out here, but no super-close friends. Furthermore I now live six hours from where I grew up. Funnily enough, as many of you know, this is not the farthest I have ever lived from home. But I don't have a return ticket this time, and it was scary. This is the farthest from home any of my siblings have ever lived indefinitely.
I moved July 27, just me my parents and the U-haul. After some final hugs and packing help from Rachel, Michael and Asia, checkin' out of my boring, white apartment, and some Subway lunch, we hit the open road. My parents got to experience first hand just how excruciatingly long the stretch from Hutch to Dodge is. Bleech! We got in before any rain hit, and moved me into a slightly larger, two story apartment in Sublette.
Monday morning I set to work in my classroom, sure that I didn't have near enough time, and not having a clue what I was doing. The next three weeks-ish I spent in meetings or workshops or in my classroom, certain I was not cutout to do this job and that I was nowhere near prepared. Thankfully I work for a great Educational Cooperative and I have a sound and encouraging mentor and a supervisor, who both assured me that I was indeed ready. The night before school started I couldn't sleep because I was just positive that the next day was going to flop.
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: I didn't wake up excited or with butterflies, I just wished I could go back to bed. I thought this to be a bad sign. Coffee helped a little, but the 12 mile drive to school didn't help much. Once I pulled into the metropolis of Copeland, the excitement starting bubbling up until I could hardly contain it. By the time I got to the school parking lot I was bursting with joy. I saw a junior high student as soon as I walked in the doors, who very cheerily said good morning, and I knew it was going to be a great day. My first day of teaching excitement is akin to my first day of Kindergarten. I was finally big enough to go to school! Again, I'm finally big enough to go to school (and get paid for it)! The rest of the day was fine, not all my butterflies were gone, there were some scary parts, but it went fairly slowly and I got through it.
Since then, I've been getting by, getting better, getting to know my surroundings and my students. I truly do love every one of my students, and I love that constantly seeking ways to improve their education is my job. I'm thankful for the school that I work at and the Cooperative that I'm employed by and I believe in their missions and philosophies of educating students. No matter how cliche` I sound, each day brings about new successes and challenges. Building relationships, especially with people my own age is slow, but it's getting there. I've been visiting churches, and I'm close to settling on one. Something I absolutely can't forget is that God sent my here, and He's taking care of me no matter what.
Tomorrow...is the first day I have a substitute. I'm not super scared, but I'm nervous. I'm worried that my plans aren't detailed enough, and everything is going to crumble when I'm gone. Granted, things crumble even when I'm there, but then I'm there to pick up the pieces. But it won't, and I have fabulous paras who will hold down the fort.
Thank you for sticking it out this far (in the blogpost, and life). As always, thanks for your prayers!
Becca
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