While I do not know what the future holds for me I know that this is where I want to be. I have successfully finished my first year of teaching without too many sleepless nights or emotional breakdowns. While I didn't avoid the constant sickness that comes from the exhaustion of a first year teacher I was spared many of the darker sides of teaching. I have a wonderfully supportive principle who was always understanding and supportive (even when I made mistakes). I have a wonderful mentor who cares about his students so passionately that I can't help but want to be a better teacher. I also think that it is awesome that he takes me to the driving range on occasion. The staff at our school truly believes that we can make a difference in these students lives. While I must admit to complaining occasionally I am happy that my complaints have to do with personality quirks and minor differences. I have no doubts that every single one of our teachers are completely committed to the students. I work in a school that cares and follows through on their desire to make our school a safe place for students to learn and thrive.
I hadn't even finished my last two weeks of school before I was planning for the next! I am so excited to be teaching the same classes next year plus two more sections of P.E. Not only do I have all of my curriculum, I can focus on making my teaching and my lessons better instead of starting from scratch. I will also get to coach our school's first sport (Track and Field).
Also.... a shameless plug for a project that I am working on. I am hopeful that I can get enough outside funding to purchase heart rate monitors and pedometers so that I can do a semester long unit on personal fitness with my P.E. classes. I know that this technology will be outside of the reach of my budget but I think it would be a great addition to our program. I used heart rate monitors while I was teaching P.E. to the Moderate to Severe class at Somerset and they were awesome! I would love to be able to use these tools again. You can donate to help me out by clicking here and using the promo code INSPIRE to have your donation matched up to $100. If you don't want to, that's fine too. You don't need to feel obligated.
Knowing me I won't post again until the fall. So, have a wonderful summer!
