Am I A Good Teacher?

Well, I have been an ESE teacher for a little over a week and I gotta say, it’s exactly how I visualized it and I’m so happy in that classroom that I feel like my heart is going to burst.

Watching these kids take in the information and sometimes watching them struggle, it’s an awesome thing. Being able to help them is basically an honor. In the mornings, when I go over the class rules, I include the “rule” to do their best because that’s all I ask. I tell them that we are family in the classroom. And with the possible exception of one, haha, they do give me their best.

Yes, it’s gonna be an emotional post.

Class Observations

So, I knew that we would be having informal observations and later, a formal observation. When the assistant principal came in to informally observe me, it was still a little nerve-wracking, despite me being prepared for it. But, honestly, being a brand-new teacher, I wasn’t too freaked out. I was expecting her to call for improvements, that would be reasonable. So I just focused on what I was doing already and hoped that my sincere care for the kids would show.

When she left, she asked when my planning period was and I thought, oh man, that’s going to be fun! You see, my last school was a bad experience. It started out great but soon turned pretty toxic. When I left there, I was afraid that they were right about me. I was afraid that I wasn’t ready to be a teacher and that I wasn’t even a particularly good teacher’s aid. But with this fear pressing on my chest, I still managed to snag a teaching job and I just hoped with everything in me that they weren’t in fact right about me.

Turns out, they weren’t!

When she emailed her report, later that day, she did say to add more science in (done!) and put more information about the week on the CBC board (done!). And she suggested that my para and I communicate more so we can work more as a time. (Working on it!)

But, then she said that the kids were engaged. that I gave positive reinforcement, I scaffolded support, and I dealt with negative behavior effectively, in a way that didn’t disrupt the learning. (Remember that one exception I mentioned? haha)

Positive Feedback

I was over the moon. I am still over the moon. I want so badly to be a really good teacher, so the positive feedback means everything to me.

I have spent years doubting myself, regretting my choices and believing that I wasn’t really capable of succeeding. Apparently, I was also wrong about me. I got my BA and got my literal dream job. Well, until I get offered the get paid to eat chocolate all day gig, anyway.

In the back of my mind, I have always thought it would be fun to be a teacher but never though it would be a good fit but here I am.

I feel like this is a new beginning for me. At 50 years old, I’m starting my career. That seems a little crazy when I think about it. But mostly, I just think that it’s great.

The Lesson

If there is a moral and clearly there is; it is to not give up on yourself. You can do hard things and you should just ignore those who say you can’t. I mean, if you want to be an astronaut and you don’t even have a driver’s license, they might have a point. But, otherwise, ignore the nay-sayers, you got this!