A Year to Remember

I haven't blogged in a while, and I haven't really known what to write about. Nothing seems more appropriate or cliche than kind of wrapping of the year. The year 2015 has been an eventful year. This year started with me working temporarily at one school, and ended with me working at my full time job. 

I started out working at Huffines and teaching 6th grade Math & Science. It was a long term sub position and I was there for the entire Spring semester. This job did an incredible job preparing me. I had no idea where I was going to get a full time job, and I always thought that it was going to be in Middle School. The semester went on and I really cherish the time I had working with those kids. That job was definitely not easy, but it was worth it in the end. 

The time came for me to really start looking for a job, and I started the interview process. I think I had like 5 interviews. The first few I didn't get the job, and that can really bring a person down. You go in pour your heart out, and they decide to choose someone else. It was honestly a let down the first couple of times. This whole time I had been talking with JM about everything, and keeping her in the loop with how everything was going. Then one day she contacted me about a possible position that may be opening up. It wasn't for sure. If you have never heard of McA before, just know that it is an incredible school. The idea of having a job there was awesome, and I was all for it. But... that wasn't a sure thing. I went in to talk to who I thought was going to be her, but ended up being the 4th grade team that I would be working with. I went from calm to extremely nervous in about 2 seconds. This is an intimidating, incredible group of teachers. I left that meeting with them not feeling the most confident about it. They also wanted to come watch me teach, so WP and JR came to my class and watched me. That was probably the most nervous I had ever been. Nothing like teaching to convince people to hire you. Now it was the waiting to game to see if they wanted to hire me and to see if it the position was actually going to open up. While I was waiting to hear back from McA,  I had another interview for a 7th grade position that I ended up getting. I had to make the tough decision, and I decided to turn down that offer in hopes of the McA one. Longer story short... you all know that I ended up at McA. Thank God I did.

Its December 31, and I'm thinking back to all the things that happened in the first semester, and I gotta say I love my job. It is insane to think that the first half of my first year teaching is already over. This whole time I have just been trying to do the best that I can, and keep up with my incredible team. These 3 ladies are insanely good teachers, and sometimes I feel like I don't belong. I just keep trying to work as hard as I can to do the best that I can. I feel like I have done some good things thus far. One of my favorite things that I have done was Fantasy Football. That was a lot of fun to do, and the kids really bought into it. Every week they were excited to do it. Unfortunately, that has come to an end. The relationships with all of my students has been another thing I am proud of. I feel like I have gotten to know almost all of the students, and I think that all of them know that I love them. They may drive me crazy, but I wouldn't trade em for anybody else. I like to think that they all enjoy coming to my class everyday. Well as much as a 4th grader can enjoy going to math class (; 

I have two goals for the rest of the school year. 1: I want to further my relationships with my students, and try to connect more with those students that I may not connected with too much the first semester. 2: I want to finish the year strong, and keep my students excited about math. I feel like I have done a decent job at getting those kids to enjoy math more. I know it's math, and I know that not all of them are going to love it. But if I can continue to make them enjoy coming to my class then maybe they can learn to love it like I do.

If you're still reading by now, thanks. This year has been incredible, and a lot has happened. People have come and gone, but I don't regret anything. All the events of the year shape me into the man that I am today. I know that 2016 will be another year full of exciting times! 

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!