I student taught in 2nd grade and my DREAM was to teach 2nd grade in public school, helping kids who really need it. Well, I graduated college in 2008 and around here in Washington, as I'm sure it was in other parts of the country, teaching gigs were hard to come by. Funding was cut. Teachers who had been teaching for 5 or 6 years were getting laid off so a newbie teacher like me really didn't have a chance. I took the next best thing, a job at a private school.I taught a 2nd/3rd split there for 5 years and enjoyed it. We did fun projects and the kids were really great. It was not where my heart was though. We had small class sizes, like too small. 7 or 8 kids small. It took on the feeling of a home-school group which was what the families of the school wanted, but I didn't feel fulfilled there or that I was where I was supposed to be.
About 6 months ago the DREAM ball started rolling and I took a job as a 1st grade intervention teacher in public school. I felt like I was at the right place. Our school is 80% free and reduced lunch, lots of ELL kids, and exactly where I felt like I was needed and could make a difference. The place was right. The position? Not so much. Intervention and Special Education teachers have a special place in my heart because classroom teachers really rely on them for support and it takes a certain sort of teacher to be a stellar special education teacher, however I am not that sort teacher for a myriad of reasons I will not go into here. But I did my best, made academic gains with the kids (yay!) and then took a job in the same school as a 1st grade teacher for next year.
I was stoked!! While 1st grade wasn't my favorite, I finally was a public school, classroom teacher, yay!! I moved all my stuff into the 1st grade room and started getting ready. There were rumors of 2nd grade teacher planning to retire the next year so I had a master plan. I would teach my little heart out to these firsties this year and then gain enough admiration from administration to move up to 2nd next year when she retired. Well, the universe had other things in store for me!!
I was the lone teacher working one day. Our fabulous principal let me in the front door (teachers in my district don't get keys to the building which I find frustrating, but I digress). She mentioned that the 2nd grade teacher decided to retire THIS year and that maybe she should send out an email to everyone seeing if anyone wanted to move grades before she posted the job opening. Oh man!! My little heart jumped. I told her I'd LOVE to take it. It's my favorite grade, blah, blah, blah. She said okay. Yay!!
I also got the choice of staying the room I had already moved into or moving into the 2nd grade room. I really loved the other room better than the one I currently have so I accepted moving too!! My custodian thought I was crazy because, well, I just moved into this room and perhaps I am a bit crazy, but I also am a bit of perfectionist and would much rather spend extra energy making my space feel right than accepting a less than perfect situation.
So. . . now I'm working on 2nd grade math games (my favorite!) and waiting to get the okay from our principal that the retiring teacher is moved out and I can move it. Yay for 2nd grade, finally!!
Now I'm trying to find the best 2nd grade teachers out there so I can follow their blog and keep growing. My absolute favorite so far is Amy Lemons!! I love all her teaching ideas AND I love hearing about her adorable little girl. I'd love anymore suggestions for amazing second grade teacher bloggers!
I'll end with a hilarious post from BuzzFeed: First Grade Problems. Hilarious!!
First Grade Problems
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