Then & Now
My heart has always been in teaching. Ever since going with my mother in the summer to clean out her classroom and prepare for the coming school year I knew that it was where I was also headed. While my mother was a primary teacher I decided to pursue my teaching at the Secondary level, which inevitably lead me to teach middle school. After completing my first four years of teaching and finding my footing I began my Masters Education. My initial goal in entering this program was as stated:
"I would love to be able to go into classrooms around the state to help teachers develop their curriculum, support them in their lesson planning, and help them create lessons that are interactive and aligned with state standards." My current goal: "I would love to stay teaching within the classroom, at the middle school level, and help teachers within the mathematics department (k-12) develop our curriculum, support one another in our lesson planning, and help each other create lessons that are interactive, utilize technological tools, and are aligned with state standards." As you can see my goals are very similar to one another with the difference being staying within the classroom in the teacher role. I have really found a love for teaching middle schoolers and having encounters with them daily. I am still passionate about working and collaborating with the department as a whole and I am finding joy in helping one another to become better and utilize the tools we have to enhance the curriculum. Being in multiple districts I have seen the value in communicating between co-workers, between departments, and between grade levels. I have seen the hindrances when these are lacking, and I have seen the benefits when these are apparent. With my experience at each end of the spectrum it has only fueled my fire to ensure that communication and teamwork are happening in the school that I am teaching. Now that I have some experience and have been teaching for a longer period of time I feel comfortable in leading these conversations with my fellow teachers to ensure that we are on a positive and encouraging path. I always said when I have a greater amount of experience under my belt and there is somebody new in the building I pray that I go out of the way to help them feel welcome, answer their questions, and be a listening ear when they need it. It was not that long ago when I sat in their seat and felt intimidated and overwhelmed being in a new district. I hope to be an asset to my fellow teachers in my own department of mathematics as well as to my school overall. I hope to set and obtain goals that will only help encourage an appreciation for one another as co-workers and create an environment where we can work together to grow in our teaching practices. |
*ALL IMAGES ARE PHOTOS THAT I HAVE TAKEN AND ARE OWNED BY ME*