After two years of working in education outside of the classroom, Monday was my first day back as a full time teacher. The last week has been a whirlwind as I furiously made final preparations on my room and first day materials and then dove into the first few days of classes.
Part of me felt confident in my experience heading into this week, but a much larger part of me was worried that I had simply forgotten too much of what I had learned while on my two-year hiatus. Teaching in a new district and school was hard enough (even as someone who's done it many times over the years) without feeling that I might be reverting into a first-year teacher again.
In other words, I don't want to get to the end of the school year and realize I had repeated tons of mistakes I had already made and corrected in years previous.
With a couple of days under my belt, my confidence is slowly rising. Along with deep reflection and physical digging into all the materials I've collected and created in my career, I've also found myself having to reread things that I shared here. Perhaps that's the best way for me to move beyond my past failures and become a better teacher than I've ever been.
Some of the posts I've found most helpful in mentally preparing for the school year are:
I hope you will find something valuable as you prepare for the first few days of school as well.