Freedom!!!!

Also known as summer to all the non teachers out there. :P Sounds horrible when I say it that way but the first year of teaching was awesome!! I enjoyed every single minute. It's not to say there weren't challenging moments, and quite frankly there was one probably every day. But the truly challenging moments/days were learning lessons for me. I cherish them.

How was your first year?

Several people have asked me that question and there is no one word answer. 

Great. Challenging. Rough. Sad. Awesome. Totally awful. Moments of panic. Humbling. Wanting to rip my hair out. Enlightening. Interesting. 

Those can all. Be used to describe my year. But not all at the same time. There were days that went smooth, without a hiccup. Then there were the days that were like being on a sailboat in a storm in the middle of the ocean without sight of land. But thank God those days were few. Challenges of subtraction and division. Incomplete goals. Sloppy papers. Careless attitudes. These things will try a teachers sanity. Or at least this one's. It seems to me that they would realize if they went slow and neat the first time, they wouldn't have to redo the whole page. But no. There were times when I moved the pages around to try and figure out what number or letter that figure on the page was. I make it sound awful don't I??? But it wasn't all like that!! 

The times of seeing the "lightbulb" go on in their little minds was the best thing ever!! Seeing them finally understand how to rename for subtraction with 3-digit numbers. One of the greatest times was hearing a boys own mental tool to remember a multiplication fact. It was 7x7. His tool was that Colin Kaepernick's number is 7 and he plays for the 49ers and if you multiply his number together(7x7), you will get 49, which is his team!! That warmed his sports-loving teacher's heart. :) Seeing them become better spellers and readers. Watching them progress in story writing ability. Their stories at the end of the year were. MUCH improved from the first of the year. I loved how they would tell me things in the middle of working on their science worksheet that had NOTING to do with anything at school, but they wanted me to know it. Getting a glimpse into their minds that are wonderfully different from each of their classmates. God made each one of them and they are uniquely special. For me this little quote is true: 

I call my students "my kids" because in our year together, they're not just kids on my class list, they become part of my heart. I thank God for the opportunity He has given me to help educate their young minds.

What are you going to do this summer?

For some reason, people seem to think teachers do absolutely nothing in the summer. Not true. I'm currently in Ohio on  a 2-week trip. After which I will spend a week in Oregon before Annual Meeting. After which is a 3.5 week break before Youngfolks Camp. That lasts a week. Then I have a week or so before I go to Florida for a teacher workshop. Then it's August and school starts!! Oh, and sometime in there I will be filling it with wedding stuff because my best friend is getting married the Friday after school starts :) showers, dress sewing, weekend away...not to mention getting my classroom ready for next year!! My summer will get filled up pretty quickly!! I'm already enjoying and I hope you all have a great summer as well.