That is how I feel. I am beginning to connect with my students, but I am not sure that teaching high school is what I was made for. I love my colleagues, but I don’t know if I could talk about things like standards, test scores, and discipline problems day in and day out for the rest of my life. I really want to know about my students’ personal lives, but I am afraid that, if I learned too much, the classroom would simply turn into an episode of Dr. Phil.
Yet… I am happy. God has put amazing friends in my life; they are there for me. People love me, for who I am. They are willing to overlook the flaws because they know I am a work in progress. I am sitting at the Green Bean. Happy day. I am drinking a delicious latte and thinking about my future while I spit out lesson plans like I’m an educational rapper. I laugh with my family every. single. night. I miss my friends in Boone, but I know that we WILL see each other again. I don’t know when I will find out about graduate school, but I am at peace about it.
God is good. All the time.
I am ready to give reason for the hope that I have: ABBA. I may not talk to Him enough, but He’s still there; He forgives me for it. Taste and see, friends.
Girl, I will tell you: it’s a tough life. But you do have to absolutely love it (and everything that comes along with it, like standards and discipline) with every fiber of your being, or you will go insane. I have learned so much my first year of teaching, but it’s been the hardest year of my life. I’ve laughed and cried (and not sure which has happened more), but loving your students doesn’t just come through in “talking about issues,” it comes in through teaching them discipline, through teaching them language, and through showing them that you care in a million ways, even if you have to fight them every day for it. I wish you the best! Let me know if you ever have a question or need anything!