Saying Goodbye & Starting Fresh

Well, another year has come and gone. This year ended with a surprise twist that made it even harder to say goodbye. I have been at my school for five years. I started there in 2010 during my graduate internship and my amazing principal took me under her wing and kept me there. I have really grown up as a teacher since starting and I have made too many meaningful relationships with my colleagues and students to count. It's with sadness and excitement, that this year marked my last at my school. It would have been easier for me had I known sooner, but it was down to the wire. I'm talking last.day.of.school. I'm talking, my students were asking me if I was going to be in the same room next year as they were leaving for the summer and my answer was yes...until about 45 minutes later.

I did apply to another school, and I interviewed, and my interview went well, and so it wasn't like my transfer was out of the blue. I just didn't have time to say goodbye to my kiddos, or a lot of my teacher friends. I did however, get the chance to sit down and have a good talk with my principal, which made things a little easier. I was a mess y'all.

So, why the move you ask? Teaching reading is my thing! I just love it. I could do it all day. I have really wanted to experience teaching reading at a Title 1 school. The school I'm leaving has prepared me so well and I have confidence in my reading-teachery skills (so much so that I can make up words like "teachery"). I typically receive the lower ESOL (children with families who speak another language) group and my joy has been watching them take command of the English language and grow in leaps and bounds as readers. My new school is filled with these opportunities; plus their scores are phenomenal, plus they have an amazing guided reading program (you can bet I will be blogging about that in the future), plus the principal is great, plus Title 1 means more resources (which they use in the smartest ways), plus I get tons of support (I will have a reading specialist, reading assistant, ESOL teacher, and Title 1 math teacher all push in throughout the course of the day).

God is so good. Not only am I brimming from the opportunity to teach at the school I was really hoping to be at, but I get to stay in third! I interviewed for second grade, but by the time I was offered a position, a third grade slot had just opened. Literally, maybe an hour before I got the call. God is good. I am so excited.

I will keep you guys in the loop as I navigate this new experience, especially trailer life. Oh yea, my classroom is a trailer. The classroom I'm leaving is beautiful and newer and amazing, but that's okay. I don't need the perks. I'm actually kind of excited about my trailer (there will be another 3rd and three 2nd grade classrooms in trailers as well). I get to bust out my decorator/crafty skills to hook it up on the inside and out. Did I mention the best part of the trailer yet? BRAND NEW FURNITURE! I'm talking new carpet, new cubbies, new teacher desk, new bookshelves.....NEW SMART BOARD! What?!? Do I actually get a new Smart Board... so new that it doesn't even need the projector part? I was planning on begging, borrowing, and stealing for furniture, that's kind of what incoming teachers at my old school had to do. But, no. God is good.

I'll keep you posted!