From First to Fifth

Now that school is out for summer, I am breathing a sigh of relief. I knew changing grade levels would bring some interesting challenges, but I didn't realize how steep the learning curve was! At the end of each school day, I often wondered who had learned more, me or my students.

The first big challenge was the leaving a self-contained elementary classroom in a small building to a departmentalized middle school and a newly constructed wing. With students rotating among classrooms every 40 minutes of the day, the days flew by. The level of collaboration necessary among staff in a middle school is huge. By the end of the year, my co-teachers and I realized that in order to keep everyone in the loop about student information or a special event, we needed to notify 23 other staff members. That's a lot of emailing!

Passing time was an adjustment as well. At our school, it begins when the loud music begins to play and the halls fill with students. It's a bit chaotic and quite the adjustment for an elementary teacher who was used to "line basics".

While teaching first grade, the paperwork was a cinch. Correcting papers involved a fast glance with a star or smiley face written at the top. Assessments involved observations over time and watching for competence with specific skills. This year, planning and grading for 90 science students was a new experience. Getting through a stack of papers or projects was an endurance test that involved a whole weekend and many bribes to myself that involved chocolate.

Now that the year is behind me, I feel a huge sense of accomplishment in what I've learned. After a couple of months off to rest and reorganize it will be great to have a chance to teach it again, having half a clue what I am doing!