perspective

I'm being stretched this year. I taught first grade last year but to avoid the long story, I'm a teaching assistant at another school, working with fifth grade. God completely worked the whole thing out and I'm excited about this current season in my teaching career. After talking with a fellow teaching assistant, I'm thinking about beginning the process of earning my Ed.S. degree. The change has been good and even though I was a little hesitant to work with the "big kids," they're really sweet and I'm reminded of part of my student teaching when I worked with fifth grade and loved it! I've had to make the mental leap of interacting with ten-year-olds versus six-year-olds but it's been a fun transition. This is great practice in one of the most important parts of teaching: be flexible!

I'm sharing this because this is where I'm coming from right now; my perspective is that of a secondary person in the classroom instead of the primary one. I'm looking forward to being able to observe and just watch. I've already been amazed at how the grade level teachers I'm working with do what they do. They love their kids and this profession. One told a student, "You're not trying and you know I don't allow that." They push their kids to give high-quality work and challenge their thinking. I'm excited at becoming a better educator through this process. I know I'm supposed to teach - I can't imagine doing anything else. So I'm going to learn all I can right now and enjoy where I'm at.