thinkbrit

Exhaustion:

• We went hiking today, on our last day of school. It was amazing.
• I am so sunburned.
• Went to the end-of-year staff party tonight.
• Lots of emotions.

Happiness:

• My kids are amazing and have grown so much this year.
• I’m no longer a first year teacher!
• I love the people I work with.
• I have news & no more uncertainty.

Sadness:

• I will miss my kids. I cried.
• Change is really hard.

News:

• I accepted a job teaching a 3/4 combined gifted & talented class at my current school. This is my passion and I am incredibly excited.

Thanks, Tumblr community, for helping me get through this amazing roller-coaster of a first year of teaching. It meant so much to me to know you were (and are) all behind me.

I will write more/reflect on the year later, but for now I’m utterly exhausted and redder than a tomato.

I’m going to cry. I already started to cry in the shower this morning. I’m so proud of my kids.

We’re going on a last-day-of-school hike- could there be a better way to end the year?

But yes. There will be tears. I’ve warned the kids already and resigned myself to my fate, although I will try to hold off as long as possible.

Email from a parent:

I can’t believe this year is almost over. Every time I talk to [name omitted] about summer and school being over he gets sad and says he will miss you not being his teacher. You have done such a great job with [name omitted] this year and I feel like he has grown so much. Thank you! You may have a hugger coming up to you next year when ever he sees you in the hall. 

I was feeling pretty down on myself this week, but this email made all the difference. I love this student and his family. The good news is that he has a younger sibling.

Remember. Remember. You were so happy and so proud and loved all your kids.

So happy, so proud.

[Repeating until I forget how trying today was.]

Today, I was a part of something amazing at my school. I am the happiest, proudest teacher you could imagine tonight. My students (every single one of them) spoke eloquently and thoughtfully about their learning and growth to panels of adults this afternoon.

In the expeditionary learning model, students create portfolios of their work over the course of their school careers. They present these portfolios to panels of adults (teachers and members of the community) in third grade and sixth grade. It is an opportunity for students to reflect on their strengths, look back on their learning, and see where they can go next. Reflection is where much learning and growth happens, so it is an extremely valuable process for our students to go through. They have to articulate what they have learned, how they have grown, and what their goals are. After they present, the panel fills out a rubric for their portfolio and presentation. They also write a letter to each student, detailing what they noticed about their presentation and naming their areas of strength. 

Over the last few weeks, we have spent a lot of time in our classroom practicing for these showcases. We practiced greeting the panelists, shaking hands, making eye contact, and reflecting aloud on their work and the culture of our school. This afternoon, between 1:45 and 4, all 70-some third grade students presented their portfolios to panels of 2-3 adults.

Some students were nervous; some were excited. Some had trouble preparing and weren’t sure they could do it. Today, every single one of my students had their moment to shine in front of a panel. They spoke eloquently about their work, answered reflective questions, and held their own in a situation many adults I know would panic over. Each of my students came out of their panel excited, happy, relieved… some were bouncing off the walls and others had a quieter aura of accomplishment. It was a true celebration of the students’ learning. 

Everyone was smiling. Parents were cheerful; kids were beaming. Teachers, parents, and other panelists were complimenting the third grade teachers and our students. I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to celebrate students this way. It is rare for students to have so much individual attention, or so much time to reflect and grow.

In a few weeks, I will have the chance to sit on the panels for our sixth graders, and I could not be more thrilled. I wish more schools valued this kind of experience and built in time for it.

In short, I am so, so proud today.

It was from a kindergarten teacher at our school. She’s been teaching for a long time and had one of my students in her kindie crew. He visits her kindergarten crew each afternoon. He helps out in the classroom and works with the little ones. It improves his mood and provides all of us a break from one another. It’s great.

Anyway, she caught me in the office and told me she had filmed this student reading aloud to her crew today, and that I need to see the video. She said that I must be doing some great reading teaching because while he was reading the book aloud, he stopped and asked the kindies to make predictions or share their thinking about the book.

I almost started to cry right there in the office. It is so nice to hear good things about your students and to have those nice things attributed to your teaching. Especially from someone experienced, whom you respect.

It was a good day.

I hate having a great day and then getting a parent email and then feeling HORRIBLE. And anxious. And just awful all around.

So now here I am. Being anxious but trying so hard not to be because there is literally nothing I can do about it right now. Yay.

One of my students wrote this in her “All About Me” piece for portfolios:

My teachers name is Brittany S———-, she is nice. When she laughs her face will terns VARY RED and she will be greening from ear to ear!! I like Ms. Brittany because she will laugh about anything. She is also vary nice and patient to people!

It was nice having you. It’s a little hard to switch gears and realize I have to plan and organize for the upcoming week of school. I am so glad we have a planning day on Monday.

Now we enter the home stretch- 7.5 more weeks of school until I am no longer a first-year teacher.

This year has been harder than I could have imagined, and it feels like just yesterday I was crying in my car on my way home from the first day of school. Crying because I was overwhelmed, and because I couldn’t believe the range of abilities in my classroom. Crying because I was finally doing what I wanted to do, and what I have known I should do my whole life (even when I avoided acknowledging it…).

This year has also been joyful and amazing. I have grown and learned so much— about working with others, understanding my limitations, communicating well, and teaching in general. I have celebrated personal growth and my students’ growth. I have made new friends and grown to love my school and colleagues.

Expect more reflection in the upcoming weeks. First-year teachers (and not-first-year-teachers)- what do you hope to achieve in these last 2 months of school?

I would love them all. I am suddenly, and somewhat randomly, inspired to create units or projects based around these books.

Yay! Inspiration! You have returned!

…Now if only I felt the same inspiration about reader’s workshop at the moment.