Why hello there world. It's been a while. School year has started, I'm teaching a single prep this year, which is a big change, and it's my fourth year teaching.
Fourth year. Let that sink in. Because it's still weird to me and it's week 5 at school.
Statistically speaking, the fourth year is about when teachers start to leave the profession due to burn out. And I have seen this happen. A good friend of mine gave me a ton of equipment because they are no longer going to be in the classroom, which I found somewhat heartbreaking. The person is one of the best teachers I knew from my early camp days, but this does happen for many reasons.
Which brings me to why I'm writing this. How did I get here? How did I become one of the ones who sticks with it? I think it's luck as much as skill. I went into teaching with no illusions on what a teacher's life looks like. My dad was a teacher, my mother-in-law is a teacher, my grandmother was a teacher's aide, my great-grandmother was a teacher. It's genetic and in my family. I also have had a lot of support through various programs I've found, like SFTR and the Exploratorium Teacher Institute.
I kind of hope to act as a beacon for some of my friends who are just starting their teaching journey. A realistic beacon. Teaching doesn't get easier, you just learn more and get better. Ask for help, be authentic and listen.
I don't quite feel like this is year four because I did switch schools. But it is better than my first year. I have great coworkers who love and support me and genuinely want me to be successful, and I want the exact same thing for them. One of them has seen me at some low points this year, which speaks more to how much I trust her than anything else.
In teaching, to stay you need love and support. If you don't have it where you are, try and find it as soon as you can. The world needs good teachers, even if it doesn't act like it.
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