Into Me Like a Train

How quickly I've fallen back into the routines of teaching.

Wake up, hit school early for some early morning planning or marking, teach teach teach, a playground duty & some tears, a perfectly on task morning followed by a completely insane afternoon, with a little more marking and some professional development to round out the day. Rinse and repeat.

I'm not joking when I tell you that teaching this time around is leaving me exhausted. It's been almost a month that I've had my class of Year 1/2 kidlets, but honestly - it's kicking my butt. I've been spending many a recent weekend doing planning, or staying back after school to try and catch up on assessments.

I've been dealing with incredibly anxious parents who had seen their children get settled in one class, only to be picked up and moved into a brand new class several weeks into the school year. That's not an easy thing for kids to get used to, especially considering I have several little ones with Asperger's this year. Easing their minds and making sure the kids are responding okay has been hard work, and it continues to be hard work.

All the while, I'm doing my best to fit in with the rest of the staff. They're a small school and a tight-knit team, and being the outsider is always a bit hard to deal with. Thankfully, nearly all of the staff are helpful, kind and understanding - I'm not kidding when I say I've really lucked into this position. We're still without a classroom, so I'm teaching and making do in the old library space - and I'm still playing it by ear as to how long my position will last for. If all goes well, I'll be able to stay on for the rest of the year, which would be perfect.

For now though, I teach. I also sing and dance and monitor sports. I supervise and I mediate and I study. This whole teaching thing... it's non-stop, but I remember now why I love it.