Back-to-School Jones

After the longest summer of interviewing in my personal history, my job search has (temporarily) come to a close. I found out of Tuesday that I will be teaching 5th grade in my district as a consultant special education teacher! I am so thrilled to be going back to work, but most of all, I am so thrilled to still be teaching. With every interview, I reflect on past interviews and think about how much I’ve grown as a young teacher. I remember my very first teaching interview at a school I student taught at and had a great relationship with. I was SURE they would hire me and that I had nothing to worry about. Of course, I didn’t get the job. I was devastated. In hindsight, I would have probably survived it and done a good job, but I would not have learned nearly as much about myself as a teacher and a professional. Interviewing for jobs and being a long-term substitute, teaching assistant and day-to-day sub has made me a more complete teacher. My “bag of tricks” is overflowing from all of the teaching experiences I have gone through in this difficult job market.

I went into my new classroom for the first time today. The desks were so big! The jump from kindergarten to 5th grade will be interesting. To be honest, I can’t really envision the size of 5th graders. I remember student teaching in 5th grade and some of the kids were taller than me! That was the year I decided I always had to teach in heels in order to get the kids to believe that I was the teacher.

In August I always get the back-to-school jones. I could spend hours in Office Max and Target. I usually buy clothes that I can’t actually wear until Halloween, but it feels right to buy trench coats and sweaters when you have binders in your shopping cart. It always makes me think of the movie You’ve Got Mail, when Tom Hanks says “Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”

In New York, we don’t start school until after Labor Day. I know that many of my blog friends have already been back for a few weeks. My hope is that in the next few weeks I can contribute a lot to my blog and keep you posted on my beginning of the year adventures. However, If I fall off the blogging map for a little bit, you know that the reason is because I am probably busy sharpening pencils in New York in the fall. Stay tuned!