UPDATE!!!!

Good afternoon lovelies,

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted on this blog. I've learned so much since then, and I hope to continue posting on the blog once a week or so to give advice to all the first-year teachers out there who find themselves suddenly thrust into a whole new community and lost amongst the meetings, professional development, and evaluations that is a part of being a teacher.

Just an update on where I currently am...

I will be starting my second year as a middle grades special education teacher at a rural public school in Coastal Georgia. My first year was...ridiculous. I learned so much about the education of students with special needs in my first year, not to mention dealing with the paperwork and MESS of being a public school teacher. Last year I taught 6th and 7th grade reading resource, as well as 7th grade inclusion math and language arts. I absolutely adored being a reading resource teacher. I saw the program working in several of my students and I hope that I can continue working with those students this year to make gains in their reading comprehension and fluency.

Being an inclusion teacher was remarkably underwhelming last year. Being a first-year teacher, I was both naive and self-conscious when it came to working with my co-teachers. I love both of my co-teachers immensely and they're both great teachers, but I don't feel like I ever got to that happy spot where I felt effective in the inclusive environment. However, a new year is coming and hopefully I can take what I learned last year and make it work better this year.

The crazy part of any special education teacher's job is, of course, the paperwork. I actually enjoyed doing IEPs last year. I learned a wealth of information about my students and their parents while completing the IEPs and conducting the meetings. So, although it takes a LOT of time and concentration, the IEP process was not something I disliked about my job.

Finally, some excitement came my way at the end of last school year. Because the county SPED instructional coach, SPED director, and my school administrators saw how much I enjoyed teaching reading resource and how I learned about the program as much as I could, I was asked to be the direct instruction lead teacher for my school! There's no prestige that comes with the title, no extra money or anything. And it's actually not like I DO much of anything as DI lead teacher. But I guess that it's the confidence that the administration and SPED coordinators have in my ability to teach the program and really make a difference in the education of my students that gives me the best feeling. Plus, being a first-year teacher and asked to take on any sort of responsibility like that is pretty cool.

In addition to becoming DI lead teacher, I will also be heading up a recycling initiative at our school this school year. In February, I helped with the Math and Science Expo and did a recycling and recyclable craft "lesson" in my classroom. The kids had so much fun and they made some really interesting crafts. Stemming from that, my principal asked me to head up an end-of-the-year recycling drive that coincided with locker clean-out during the last week or so of school. Locker Leftovers was a huge success!

Over 1,200 math textbooks were donated to the Locker Leftovers drive. These are JUST the 8th grade books! Every student in the school had two math textbook/workbook combos this year. Think of all that paper that we saved from going into the landfill!!

We had donations that benefitted a local women's shelter, as well as the Boys and Girls Club. And I still have stacks and boxes of paper, dividers, and other school supplies that will be used within our own school. Because of the successes of the Recycling Wars activity in February and the Locker Leftovers drive in May, my principal asked me to head up a permanent recycling program at our school. So again, it feels great to have the confidence of administrators as a first-year teacher.

I know this was a super long post. It's actually the first time I've sat down and really thought about last year in detail and the challenges and successes I met along the way. Again, I hope to post on the blog every week or so. So keep checking back...you never know what you might find!