DearAnxiousTeacher

  September 2011 "I know I'm a ______ (insert expletive)! I'll fail you and you'll be coming right back to me in January. I told you already! It's called Assertive Discipline.” Like I care about your stupid book from 1972 . I thought. “First, you must write their names on the board when they are talking. Once you get to strike 3, yell, kick them out, and later call their home.” This summed up classroom discipline for me during student teaching. She kept it pretty simple. Why are you talking to them about their personal lives? You teach bell-to-bell. Now get in front of the classroom and start teaching.” This first experience had me sweating. It continued... "Why are you doing this? There are no jobs. Can you leave grad school and do something else? You're not going to help anybody." Should I leave? One of the reasons that kept me there was because of my fat 100,000 student loan that needed to be repaid. Did I really take out 100 grand to do this? Thi...

It’s your first year. Late nights, anxiety, stress, caffeine-induced insomnia, canceling dates, missing family events, and freaking out plays like a broken record in your mind. Rewind, rewind again, and hitting play with the same emotions over and over again. Hard to believe this--it gets better! Questioning your decision on the regular will take up a majority of your thoughts. God bless the person you’re dating during that first year because your relationship might get a little rocky. My wife wondered where my personality went during my first year. “I liked you so much better before you became a teacher” with an old lady's nagging, husky voice. Pretending to be a good teacher and acting like you know what you’re doing will prevail during this time period. Self-doubts will creep in and your confidence will be tested. From this experience, you will grow into the best version of yourself as a teacher. Don’t judge the field by the first year. It’s a huge transition including those lov...