I am very new to "blogger" so I hope this post works correctly. :)
I have been having conversations with teachers all my life. My mother is a Kindergarden teacher as are all of her friends I have met. My sister went to school to become a teacher but changed her mind (she didn't get nearly as far as I have, and today she regrets making that decision to not follow through). I have talked to them all about what it's like to be a teacher, and if they like their jobs. I have asked them what their favorite part of teaching is, and what they wish they could change. I felt like I knew what to expect when I get accepted to Fordham and began thinking about my student teaching and observation. It was not until I met with my Teaching Guru last wednesday that I realized I have never asked the real tough questions. My question that I asked my Guru, as well as two of the other teachers at my lunch table was "What is the one thing you had known before becoming a teacher?" It was a very interesting question, one that I had never thought to ask the people around me, and I am glad that I had. I got three, very different yet very important answers.
I am VERY bad with names, and forgot to write them down when I met with the teachers that day, so you will have to excuse me. The first teacher told me that camaraderie with other teachers is the most important thing to establish your first few years. If you have someone to fall back on, or someone to support you, it will make your first year x1000 better and more enjoyable. Friends and family can support you and listen to your problems, but the other teachers are the ones who probably know what you are going through and know exactly what you are talking about. They are also a great resource. they can answer your questions about teaching, the school, the students, the lesson or anything else. At the Center School, it seems like all the teachers depend on each other and is almost a small family. That is what I like so much about the school.
The second piece of advice I got from my guru was that the first 5 years will be the hardest. The first year you are doing everything, the second year you have the lesson plans and can change them up a little, but still developing your teaching style. The nest three years, new experiences are being thrown at you. By the 6th year, you will feel like you could teach in any environment. I think that this is important to know because teaching might be frustrating, and it might be scary, and we might not like it, but after that 5th year, it should be as great as everyone I know told me it would be. Each year will get easier and they will go by very quickly.
The 3rd piece of advice I got was that, yes the 1st year will be though but it all depends on the students. Some groups of students are better than others and if you are lucky enough to get great students than your first year will be much more pleasurable. This teacher said that it is always good to get those bad experiences; they make you a better teacher. But, they are very hard when you are going through them, especially when you are a first year teacher.
Being a teacher is a very hard profession, but as I continue to spend time at The Center School, I look more towards it every day!
Meghan, I think the piece of advice your guru gave you about teacher camaraderie is a great lesson for all teachers to learn. It is so easy for us to forget that a school is a community of learners and to be able to have a colleague, or even a friend, to rely on is an essential piece of a community. Although our focus should be on the students learning, new teachers can ALWAYS use help in learning the ropes of a new place.
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