Here Comes August 25th!

We are quickly nearing the start of a new school year, and as it draws closer I find myself pondering the many new challenges I'll have to confront. I will no longer be teaching 7th grade language arts and social studies. For the first time I will be teaching those same subjects in the 8th grade. Along with getting myself familiar with the new curriculums, I have also had to prepare myself to teach a fairly new literacy program adopted by Pitt County Schools called LANGUAGE!. Only being placed in charge of teaching this new program would have been challenging enough in and of itself, but when coupled with teaching a new grade level as well I certainly have my work cut out for me in the coming school year. Addtionally, our school will have a new principal which is something else I have yet to experience in my young career. I am interested, and I must admit somewhat anxious, to see how things work with a new boss.

Along with those major changes and challenges I will face next year there is also the fact that I will have to get to know and work with an entirely different team of teachers and personalities. That also brings with it a certain level of anxiety, because I had developed a nice comfort level with my 7th grade team. We knew each other's teaching styles, personalities, likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. Essentially, I will have to start from scratch in learning those things from my new team. When added to the changes and challenges I have already discussed the coming school year seems quite a daunting task to overcome.

Above and beyond all of these impending changes, and the one I am most concerned with, is the fact that I will be teaching many of the same students I taught last school year when they were in the 7th grade. I feel certain that many students will be thrilled with the idea of me being their language arts and/or social studies teacher again, and yet I also know that many students will not be pleased to have me as their teacher for another 180 days. People change and this is particularly true for students at the middle school level that are constantly dealing with the hormonal ups and downs and everything else that adolescence brings with it. At that age things that were once 'cool and fun' can become 'dull and unwanted' instantly, and vice versa. My other concern is how I will react and teach the same students I had last year. In some ways it will work to my advantage to already know my students, and in other ways I feel it will be detrimental because I will have no way of knowing in the beginning if that particular student has changed and/or matured. In part their (my students) reaction(s) to me will come from the changes they will have to deal with from me. Many of the things I could do at the 7th grade level will not work at the 8th grade level, so it will be fascinating to see what happens.

I will keep you posted! :)