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Dear First Year Teacher:
The first week is over. You're getting your sea legs under you and feeling like this might actually be doable. You spent all last weekend ironing out all the details of your first week, and it showed in how smoothly the week went. If you are prepared, there's not a lot to fear.That's not to say long days and nights aren't ahead. But planning and keeping good records of what you do for each lesson is going to be key this year. This will make next year so much easier.
Remember your core values of confidence, agency, and relationships. You want to instill confidence in your students. Give them hard things to accomplish and succeed at. You want your students to use their agency. Give them choices in their learning in the classroom. You want to develop strong relationships of love and trust. School is more than book work and academic learning. Teach them to be kind and look out for your little classroom family.
Before you know it, this year will be over. You will look back and see how far you've come and how much more there is still to learn.
Be ever learning and don't be afraid to ask questions and learn from your mentors especially the two ladies in your hall who have just celebrated their 40th back to school night.
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| Not my photo |
Don't be afraid to try new things or do things differently, especially when everyone around you is doing the same things they've done for many years. It's okay to break the mold. Don't be afraid to change what isn't working.
Celebrate the little successes and don't wallow in the failures. This will be a year of many ups and downs. There is a reason the Lord put you in this position at this particular time when life is more than you can bear sometimes. You may not know the reason yet, but one day it will be revealed. This is part of your life mission.
You have a class of wonderful kids. And a few even have made a point to tell you, "You did a good job on your first day of teaching school." They are bright. They are innocent. They are eager to learn. Your job is to help them reach a greater potential than what they see in themselves which may not always be academically. You are going to have a couple of hard kids that will challenge you. Love them. Love Them. LOVE THEM.
You are going to do better than you think. It is going to be a BRIGHT year.
Love, Your First Week Teaching Self
Our high councilman talked about a time 15 or 20 years ago where he was part of a bishopric that specifically prayed for good people to move into Lake Point. Lake Point was a dying town without a lot of new, vibrant blood. He asked us to go home and think about what brought us here. He specifically wanted us to know that we were an answer to prayer.
Our journey here began in 2009. There was a recession going on and Tyler was itching to take advantage of the down housing market. Thus began our search for a house to buy and then a lot to build on, starting with Stansbury. Nothing panned out.
And then we remembered our family in Lake Point. I'm not sure why it took so long to even consider looking out here.
We bought a lot and the rest has been history. There were several avenues we took to get to Lake Point and each one just never worked out. But this one . . . this one also had hiccups but over and over I have had that powerful witness that this is where we are supposed to be. The latest has been when I thought we might have to move due to a job loss, and again through different manifestations, the Lord let me know to be still and everything would work out.
Almost two years later we are still in our home. I could not imagine living or raising a family anywhere else. This is where I want my family to come home to. This is why we built this home . . . as a gathering place for our kids. This is where we have created memories.
Like Dorothy says in the Wizard of Oz, "There's not place like home." And home for us is Lake Point.
And so little time.
Our school district likes to keeping reminding me that school is starting in T minus so many days.
That freaks me out a little because I do not feel prepared in any way. For two days I sat in meetings for New Teacher Orientation and just cringed as they kept throwing more and more information at me. Do this. Don't do that. Remember all 627 logins and passwords. You'd better start on your new teacher training materials that are due in 3 hours.
Okay, not really 3 hours but there was so much information heaped on me that I came home after the first day in tears, not wanting to go back. It did make me feel a little better that one of the other new hire teachers in my building felt the exact same way.
Just keep swimming is my everything right now.
In the meantime . . .
Ash and I have spent the last month in my classroom overhauling the place.
It is clean and mostly organized.
Kiersten and Jason came and spent a few hours one day too (which made Jason a little giddy to get his own classroom).
I desperately missed my helper this past week when she went to girls camp. She has been such a HUGE help. I really need her to come and hold my hand on that first day of school :)
Nate had a birthday and turned 16 and would love to get his driver's license if he could only get a hold of his online driving instructor to get some driving time in. Gifts were a little hard this year because he needed so many things BEFORE his birthday. So what do you do? You take pictures and wrap them up so he remembers that what he's been using for a few weeks was really supposed to be for his birthday.
One night we snuck away to Logan to watch our cousins in a play
Erik finally got some missionary clothes,
and we made it to the drive-in.
There was also another special event this past weekend, so stay tuned . . .
