Nearing the Beginning

Two weeks and few days to go.  The room is finished with everything put away in its home.  All that is left is to personalize the room with my student’s names and very soon their smiles and chatter.  Having it all put away is a great feeling of accomplishment, but yet it leaves me feeling like maybe I am forgetting something.  I have so much more time this year to prepare in advance and I want to be sure that I use the time properly, but what am I forgetting?

My classroom library is completed and ready for growing readers to dive in and get lost in new worlds of reading.  My bulletin boards are up and ready to display changing anchor charts throughout the school year.  My guided reading space is prepared and ready for teaching and to serve as a great group meeting space for small groups.  All of the manipulatives and materials are put away and labeled for when we need them.  I have started to think through the first day of school.  My behavior plans are set (but just might change based on my kids when I get to know them).  I even know what I want my room to look like when it is filled with students and in full swing come November.  I even have some thoughts on how to get there.

Now, I am ready to put together a classroom schedule, meet my kiddos, and dive into a new school year.  I am excited to grow as a teacher this year and to have the permanent feeling of my own classroom.  When people have asked me what I am looking forward to most about my classroom after three years of subbing, all I can think about is having the same kids all year long to work with, get to know, grow with, and learn how to improve for them as their teacher.  I am excited to grow relationships with my students, student’s parents, and staff.

I continue to talk about improving as a teacher and I am lucky to have the opportunity to get additional training as a “first year” teacher.  I have been assigned a mentor teacher to work closely with, to learn from, to challenge me, and to help me learn how to better reflect on my teaching this year.  I don’t think I will ever know it all as a teacher because I can’t imagine knowing it all in an ever changing world.

I start back to school next week for all of my new hire training and then professional development with the entire staff.  This just might be one of the few school years that I can’t wait to get started with and want day one to be here already.