This is it. The post that starts it all. I'm officially a teacher. My dream has come true. Let me tell you the story of how this came to be.
In 1st Grade, I decided I was going to be a teacher. Isn't that every 1st grade girl's dream?! By 2nd, I had changed my mind to singer/performer. Another generic girl dream. By 4th, I had gone back and forth between teacher and every other typical dream job. Fast forward to High School where I decided being a Lawyer was the way to go. After all, who can argue better than me?! I continued that dream until I realized that college wouldn't be an option for me at that time. Then I changed to becoming a Paralegal. That's almost as good and only 2 years of school. I could do that. Nope, life took me a different way. I got married to my High School sweetheart (15 years and still going strong), and got a job at a bank. Bank?! Where did that come from? Not in my plan, and definitely not the dream job of a girl who is TERRIBLE at math, but yep, that was my job. Guess what? I liked it. :) I did that for a couple of years and then realized what my dream job/calling in life was. It was time to be a mom.
Motherhood. What can I say? I love it. I pretty much love all of it. Except throw up, but who likes throw up?! Of course, I did get the world's most throwing up kid, but it's all good. :) So my dream was fulfilled. I was a Mommy. A mommy to not only one awesome little boy, but two. They are my world. I definitely could not go back to work with these 2 little boys who needed their mommy. So we scrimped and struggled, then struggled some more, but we did it. We made it work. I was a stay at home mom and that's exactly what I wanted to be. That's all I ever wanted to do.
Then my oldest kiddo (let's call him Shy Guy) started school. That big, scary place that I was suddenly going to send my precious, sweet, shy boy to every day for 7 hours!! So, I did it. I became that mom, that over-involved mom. I joined the PTO. I became his class Room Mom. I had to. I needed to know where I was sending my sweet boy and what was happening. My youngest (let's call him (Crazy Boy) and I spent a lot of time at the school. His teacher ended up being diagnosed with cancer while he was in her class. :( Thnkfully, she's all good now. :) She kept telling me how hard it was to find a good, reliable sub that knew the school, the kiddos, etc. She was out a lot going through treatments and I went in to help out a lot so the kiddos would have a familiar face and his teacher wouldn't get too far behind. Her sub comments stayed at the back of my mind.
Fast forward to the next year.Shy Guy had an awesome teacher who we all loved. We became friends. I loved being in her classroom and seeing how she interacted with her students. Again, I heard her subbing complaints. Crazy Boy was going to start preschool at the school the next year, so I decided to look into subbing. Boy,was that an easy process. A little TOO easy, but that's another story. So I started out just subbing a little bit, mostly for Shy Guy's teacher, while Crazy Boy hung out with my sister or best friend.
The next year both kids were in school, and boy did I get busy! I had a request to sub just about every day. Obviously those subbing complaints weren't felt by just a few. I loved it and got pretty good at it. :)
The next year, I was asked to do an Interim position for someone going on maternity leave. I was hesitant, but it was just for the last 6 weeks of school and I was already there all the time anyway, so I took the job. It was in 2nd Grade. Guess what? I really liked it. I loved having my own classroom. I loved making plans. It was great.
The next year, I did another maternity leave. It happened to be for Shy Guy's fabulous 1st grade teacher who taught me everything I know. :) It was even more awesome. I then did another Interim in 1st grade. By that point, I was hooked. I knew THIS was what I wanted to do with my life. I could be a mommy and a teacher. Teaching was my passion. IS my passion. I love every single part of it. No really, I do. I went to college and got my teaching degree in 2 and a half years. Did I mention I HATE procrastinating and can't stand to let things wait? Well, I can't. Thankfully, I found an awesome school that let me work at my own pace, which was lightning speed. :) I did another interim in 1st grade after my student teaching and then it was summer time. I couldn't wait to get a "real" job. But, nope. The new school year started and I didn't get a job. The county job fair had over 1000 prospective teachers at it, so I should have been prepared, but I wasn't. I wanted my own classroom so bad. It was devastating to me. I had everything ready to go. I bought furniture, office supplies, wiggly eyes, glue sticks, books, books, and more books, etc. I was READY TOGO. Didn't these principals understand?! I was DYING fora classroom. I was dying to TEACH. It's all I wanted to do. It's what I was made to do.
Then I got a call. I was asked to come in for an interview at the school closest to our house. It was for yet another Interim position, but it was something. AND I went to High School with the principal. Destiny, right?! So I went. The interview went well. I had another interview the next day for a permanent position so I told him I wanted to check that one out first. That interview went great as well. They hired someone that had been an EA at their school. So Mr. IwenttoHighSchoolwithYouPrincipal called me back and wanted to hire me. I took it. It was for a Kindergarten Readiness class. They, thankfully, hadn't started yet, and I had a couple days to orient myself to the new school before I got kiddos. It went fabulously. I loved it. The kiddos were great. I loved teaching them how to do school. :) It was a great experience. I got to be with them for the first half of the year. Then lucky for me, a first grade teacher at the same school was going on maternity leave for the next half of the year. They hired me again. Sooo, I got to finish out the year in my favorite grade with a great group of kids. AND they hired me back again. It's official. I am a 1st grade teacher, at an awesome school, with an awesome principal, and an awesome team. I'm so excited, I can't stand it. So although I've been teaching for 7 years now, it's OFFICIALLY my 1st year as a teacher WITH MY OWN CLASSROOM. Can the custodians please hurry up and finishe doing whatever they do all summer in my classroom so I can get back in and make it my own?! PLEASE! I'm dying here! Remember how I mentioned that I can't stand to let things wait! Well, this is me not being able to stand it!
Anyway, that's my story. I know it was long. But what's a good blog if it doesn't tell a good story? I plan on rewinding and going back and blogging about all the cool stuff we did this past year in my Interim positions. So check back and walk with me down memory lane. THEN I get to blog about this coming up year, with my own class, and my own way of doing things, in my own classroom, as a REAL TEACHER! I feel like Pinocchio. Hehe! Here is my very first blogging picture for you. Me with my name on the wall at my own classroom. :)
Be Fun and Fabulous!
~Mrs. Sweeney
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