Time for the annual update....

 Well obviously it has been quite some time since the last update.... But I have had some MAJOR changes! 

Last year was probably the toughest year I have ever had teaching. I got to the point that I was not sure that I was meant to be a teacher, and for the first time since I started teaching, I thought about leaving the profession. 

I knew I was good at what I did, I just wasn't supported and my work was not truly valued. While those around me would say they supported me, I was not. I cried almost every day I left work, and sometimes I broke down and cried in the classroom. The students were out of control and there was little to no consequences for their actions.

So, I prayed about what I should do and I decided to look around at other teaching jobs. I was immediately called in for interviews at several schools and was offered positions everywhere I interviewed. However, I was enticed to stay at my current slot with promises of personal coaching, leadership opportunities, and an elective course I could really design and make my own. Now the kids were a lot, but my biggest concern was the major pay cut I would be taking if I left public school and these new promises came with quite a raise. I ultimately decided I could not make up the difference if I left and that the guaranteed coaching made a huge difference. So I said I would return. 

But as the month of June came to an end,  I was contacted by a school I did not apply to, but got my application from the Catholic School system and was in need of a Science Teacher. I scheduled an interview and was offered the job pretty quickly. I crunched some numbers and decided I would be able to make it work and I turned in my notice at Intrepid. In the span of just a few weeks, I was no longer a 7th Grade science teacher and was on my way to teaching 5 different classes. 

I was sad to leave KIPP Intrepid and the East End, but I realized that ALL of the people who originally took me under their wings and helped me find my footing were gone, and almost all the people I cared about and who truly cared about me were gone (there are still a few there, but the number is very small now). This really meant I didn't have anything I was truly staying for. When teachers start the year, we are always asked to think about our "WHY." Why do you teach? Well, I realized I no longer had the desire to teach at Intrepid. 

We are almost 1 month into school, and I cannot ever remember being so happy with work. The team is great (though not having other science teachers to lean on and bounce ideas off of is a little hard), the students are amazing, and the administration is very supportive (even of my super crazy ideas). The students have a HUGE thirst for Science knowledge and my beginning of year MAP scores are so HIGH! 

I am teaching 2 sections of 6th Grade science, 2 sections of 7th grade science, 2 sections of 8th Grade Science, 7th grade Health (2 sections/1 day a week each) and a Horticulture elective. I love that we start and end our day with prayer and that we have Mass 1 day a week. I am sure some of this is the Honeymoon phase of a new place, but I also know this wont all wear off.