I do not intend to create some cutesy, Fancy Nancy teacher's blog or a long, whiny look at my life - that just isn't me. I have tried and tried to be that cutesy type of elementary school teacher, but in truth - it never ends well.
When I started teaching - 31 years ago - OMG - I planned to teach junior high students (today's middle schoolers). I did some student teaching in 6th and 7th grades - loved it - but also had to do time in 4th to ensure my certification status. My first teaching job? Second grade. In a church basement. My classroom had to be "put away" every Friday before I went home so there could be Sunday School on Sunday mornings. The next year they created these sectionals made out of paneling and cork board to separate the space into 2 classrooms.This movable wall created 11 bulletin boards in each room - no fancy machines, no budget for buying pre-made items. Everything I did was self-designed, created, cut, and applied.
I tried to be cute - after all, most of the congregation would be seeing what I had done during Sunday School.... It did not always work and some little old lady or man would come and tell me what they thought about my boards. I did put in a lot of effort.
The next year I was asked to replace the principal who was moving to Alaska to start a new school - I sometimes wish I had gone with him! There was a move to a gigantic classroom upstairs to a combined 2nd and 3rd grade class - meetings, meetings, and more meetings, so there was not the time to be so cutesy. It was hard work for me to cute -
I was secretly thrilled beyond words when my husband joined the Air Force and we moved away. My next teaching job came to me in a most unusual way and at first there was an implied cutesy element.....
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