Surpriză

A couple weeks ago I went to go visit my old host family. It was the first time I had been able to visit them since training. My host mom's granddaughters asked me about how I was liking teaching. It was a surprising and refreshing question as most people at site assume that I come from a teaching background. My host family saw me work through the challenges of my first time teaching during practicum in pre-service training and knew the excitement and trepidation I felt about teaching.

The granddaughters: Teo, Bianca, and Ada

 

The girls' question caught me off guard for a moment because I hadn't really thought about this before. I told them about how I am lucky to like my students, but that it can be difficult. The next part I found myself saying, surprised me because it's a challenge that I have been facing, but never really consciously realized.  One of the main challenges I face teaching is feeling alone. 

I don't think I fully really realized how fortunate I was to be part of such a strong team at my previous job. (shout out to Aimee and Lindsay, I miss you both so much!)  While a lot of my work was independent we had weekly meeting to support each other and work through challenges.  I don't think I fully understood how helpful those meetings were until I faced this situation where I have no team to meet with.

I am trying to think positive thoughts for the future and ways to feel more comfortable in the classroom, but in this first year of teaching, I miss being part of a team and working with peers.