It's Almost That Time Again...

The aisles at WalMart and Target are inundated with every imaginable school supply ever known to man. Fall clothing has arrived to department stores. And commercials are flooding our televisions with the latest and greatest gear to get ready. Why?? Because it's almost that time again...back to school time, of course!

I'll be starting my sixth year of teaching in just 11 short days. I can hardly believe all of the years that have quickly passed me by. As I think back to the fall of 2001, I was barely 21 years old, fresh out of college, and beginning my life-long teaching career with 125 seventh-graders who nearly ate me alive! I saw each and every one of them every single day for 42 minutes (some of them twice a day if they were lucky enough to have me as their homeroom teacher) during their language arts class. I went into that school year very confident in the fact that I was going to be the very first teacher to save her students...all of her students. By day number 2, maybe even earlier than that, I realized that I was not, afterall, super teacher. I was merely a first year teacher with a very struggling year ahead of her.

By the wonderful grace of God, I survived my first year...never to want to return to junior high EVER again!!! I then landed a 5th grade position the following fall. That second year of teaching was, by far, my most favorite. Sure, I had my ups and downs, and there was a boy in my room who already had a juvenile corrections officer at the tender age of 10, but those kids were phenomenal! One of my boys made me laugh every single day...how could I not enjoy work? My third year was a little tougher bunch of 5th graders. I had a boy who's desk permanently remained "glued" to mine...and that's where he stayed until the very last day of school. God bless him...what a piece of work he was.

My fourth year of teaching...eeek...I'm not sure if it was just as bad or worse than my first year. I was moved to third grade, and dear Lord, I thought I was going to die on the very first day of school. One little boy, about 3 1/2 feet tall, literally overturned his desk on that first day of school. Aside from that, he refused to line up with the rest of the class to go to an all-school assembly. Then there was another boy that threw a temper tantrum on the classroom floor later that week...I literally had to drag him by his hands down to the office...he just screamed and laughed the whole way. Wow! And I can't forget about my little girl who can probably be found in the dictionary under the word DIVA. She talked about "sling-back shoes," carried a purse everyday, broke out in songs right in the middle of my lessons, and thought she was 8 going on 28. Her mother told me the second week of school, in front of this girl I might add, "There is nothing you can do that works when correcting my daughter." Iye Yie Yie!!! I was at a loss for words. Every day of that year was a struggle, let me tell you! I prayed for the strength to just get through another day. And God, being the faithful God He is, got me through it. I was never so glad to see a school year end as that one.

Last year, my 5th year, I was moved back up to 5th grade, thanks to my superintendent, and I also moved to a school down the street from where I was at. I was happy to be back in 5th grade, and I don't hesitate to say that it was my second favorite year of teaching.

So that brings me to the present. I will be moving back down the street to my original school (Blackhawk), teaching 5th grade again. So do you know what that means??? The third graders that I talked about above will now be 5th graders. I can only imagine what God has in store for me this year. :) On a good note, I get to move to a HUGE classroom. CJ's going to go help me set up my new room next week. I feel both excited and nervous when approaching a new school year. I'm hoping this Sunday night's movie on TNT, "The Ron Clark Story" will inspire me. I took his philosophy and applied it for the first time this past school year. He has 55 essentials that he incorporated in an inner-New York City 5th grade classroom. He's won awards, been on Oprah, and now a movie has been made about his story.

I covet everyone's prayers as I start this new school year...I'm sure updates about my students will appear on my Blog often.