thinkbrit

thinkbrit:

Ms. B.,

I know you really don’t want to go to school tomorrow. Alas, not only that you don’t want to, but that you’re dreading going to school. The bad dream last night was just that: a bad dream. Your kids will listen to you. No one will have to intervene. They like you. They respect you. They’re learning.

Yes, maybe picking up Patrick Allen’s Conferring and starting it tonight was not the greatest idea. You’re doing fine right now, and you just need to ask for help if you feel like you need it. It’s ok not to read it tonight. I know you feel like you’re barely keeping your head above water, and sometimes like you’re actually drowning. (Seriously, though, that actual sensation that you’re drowning is not a good one.) When you’re having one of those moments, think of Catherine’s needlepoint: Good Enough Teacher. This year, that’s all you need to be. You’ll grow and become better than “good enough,” but for now, that’s all you’ve got to aim for— and that’s no small task.

Do not be stressed or alarmed by the complaints other, more experienced, teachers had on Friday. Do not be discouraged by the fact that your third grade students never stop talking. I know it is frustrating to feel like you’re trapped in a curriculum that you don’t like in spite of the fact that it’s not even a school-assigned curriculum. It is also frustrating to not have the freedom you want. But such is life. Stop second-guessing yourself.

Remember why you like this. You love morning meeting and singing with your kids. You cheer every time one of them vanquishes a new math problem. You love it when they explain their thinking to you, or won’t put their book down, or can’t wait to share what they’ve written. Your kids love you. They tell you you smile a lot and bring you art and letters and food.

Your first year is tough. You knew that. It’s tough and it’s isolating and it’s scary. But you’ll get through it, just like you always do. You can do it. Love yourself, trust yourself, and forgive yourself.

Love and confidence,

Ms. B.

Wrote this just under a year ago (9/26/11), and I find it is still rather pertinent. There’s just something about this time of year, I suppose.

So, to all you teachers out there that are nearing/at a month in (or is that just me…), keep going. Keep trudging through. Good enough is enough, for now.