My First Year Of Teaching

(My view of the world....I know-cliche that I have apples there, but a girl's gotta snack!!)

With my first year of teaching coming to a close, I thought I'd take some time to stop and reflect..... Peace has treated me really well and I don't honestly think I will be making a change in location ANY time in the near future. I am still trying to figure out if I want to go straight through for administration from here or take some time for myself, but Peace has really opened my heart to working with state custody children, so at least I know where I want to be. Not that there was ever really a question, but it's nice to know I wasn't just being all noble when I chose this career path!!

I know it's stupid and conceited but I actually feel pretty proud of myself. I wouldn't have thought a year ago that I would honestly be in this position. With having Arie unexpectedly and that putting a damper on getting Grad school finished on time and then BRAKING MY STINKING FOOT and having to push classes back even more, I just really think I lost hope that things would really work out anytime soon. It feels kind of weird to now be at a point where I only have 6 classes left (4 this summer and 2 in the fall) and then student teaching, not to mention a job I LOVE, a new baby on the way and a husband about to start his double masters. Everything seems to be falling into place.....I even get my Bernie whenever I feel like the time is right!! Which I don't think I will feel anytime soon, but it's nice to know that I am allowed to at any point now-no restrictions or hold ups!! I just feel like despite the fact that it is not a HUGE accomplishment and I still have a way to go, I am at a place where I can say I'm proud of who I am.....it's been awhile since I've felt that way about myself.....

(My work ID)

Anyway, the point of this blog was to review the year, so I thought I'd share at least two of my favorite memories/aspects of teaching this year.

First, I had a student with autism for only about 3 days (I get the aggressive behavioral/emotional kids mostly, and while they have learning disabilities, they are usually caused by their behavior, so he was picked on and made fun of too much and had to change rooms). Anyway, he drew me a picture one day and asked if he could give it to me as a gift. I am wary taking gifts from the students because sometimes they are pictures or writings of them being abused, etc and then I have to go and report it which is a LONG and emotional process, but I let him give it to me. It was a picture of Jesus on the cross with the two other criminals. Jesus had a frown on.

I turned to the boy and said, "This is really sad."

He turned back to me and said. "Do you even know what this is?"

I said, "Yes, it's Jesus on the cross."

"Right!!" he replied. "This isn't said-it's the happiest moment in history!!"

His simple joy and understanding really convicted me early in the year and helped me see while many of the students in my class where hard to handle and even love at times, they were still innocent and moldable underneath it all. I wish I still had the picture.....

(This is another piece of art work by a separate student. I had to blur out the name-but I thought it was SO sweet when he gave it to me, only to then have him show me the inside (second picture). It's a "double shower" for us to share.....Despite the fact that he got in major trouble, I've kept it on my desk since his discharge because I think it's funny!!)

My second story is not so much sweet as just funny. One of my worst students, but by far the funniest, was a little boy I had almost the entire year (from August through February). While I can't say his actual name due to HIPAA, I will say he liked to sign his name on his papers as Hannah Montana.....

When he was told to take the paper back and put his real name on it, he would reply "That is my real name.....I'm Hannah Montana!!"

He also would eat bugs to "become them." In all seriousness, he believed if he ate a butterfly, he would become one and made EVERY attempt to become all of his favorite bugs. We tried for a little while to get a class pet (this is very restricted in a hospital setting as you might imagine) but he threatened to eat the bugs if we got them, so for the rest of the year whenever he or someone else would ask for a class pet, I would say no. And when they asked why, I would refer them to this boy who would happily reply, "Because I threatened to eat them!!"

He would also tie yarn onto his 1-inch long hair to make himself a "wig", would often sit back in his chair and refuse to do work because "the baby was kicking" and would "flutter" down the hall and back for lunch on the unit (imagine a 4'11" boy who is slightly over weight skipping/galloping down the hall with his arms spread out and fluttering behind him-like a "butterfly"). He once wore a button up pj shirt to school and when told he would need to head back down to the unit and find something appropriate to wear to school would complain saying he needed to look good for his "woman". While he was a HAND FULL-he gave me some of the best stories I think I will ever acquire there!!

(A note from my big Teddy Bear!! I would seriously adopt him if I could!!)

There are soooooooo many other stories from this year that I would love to share (but who would want to read them all!!)-so many fun and happy memories and a good amount of overwhelming, emotional ones too. We had a girl try to hang herself with her long-sleeved shirt from a window sill while her friend distracted us by throwing our computer monitors on the floor, I've been to the hospital twice due to violent attacks (not to mention the times I haven't been to the hospital), my assistant had her ribs broke in two places by an 80 pound, 10 year old girl, I've gone home and just soaked in the tub with literal imprints of shoes and hands up and down my legs and back. It is a physically stressful job (I should really try to convince them to pay me more!!) but the rewards are SO worth the stress. I had a student come in to the classroom in October of this year from a nonverbal classroom and he could only grunt and point at the time of his arrival. Now, he not only speaks, but won't shut up!! He can multiply 3-digit numbers with regrouping when he could only preform math on a kindergarten level when he arrived. He is SUCH a joy to watch grow daily and has made me feel like despite all of the terrible times, maybe I'm accomplishing something?? I just could not imagine a more rewarding, life-changing experience than teaching. There is not a teacher in the world who does not have to suffer from verbal (and yes, even at times physical) abuse from the children they work with, but they continue on in their jobs. It is not because of the AMAZING pay rate or the great schedule (although the schedule is VERY nice!!), it is because they see in their students the potential, the need for someone to see not where they are but where they can GO. For anyone who has made it this far and is a teacher, seriously, thank you for all that you do. While you will have the summer to recover and get your strength back, you have spent almost a year raising 25-30 children that are not your own with the love and guidance only you could give. I am so excited to be counted among the rest of the teaching world now!! AND SO EXCITED FOR SUMMER!!!!!!!!!

(A card from Sarah that made me very happy!!)