Why I Started My Blog, How She Teaches

I’m a science teacher with prior experience in the science industry, and I have five years experience in the classroom teaching Biology and Earth and Space Science. With my blog, I hope to be like a friend and mentor. I want to share my personal experiences and teaching milestones, and I hope I can help new and struggling teachers with my perspective and resources. Whether you’re a new teacher, struggling teacher, considering the profession, or just interested in hearing more, I’m so glad you’re here!  Teaching has been a rewarding career for me. I used to work behind a desk, mostly in a cubicle.  Now my office is a classroom decorated with motivational posters, and my coworkers are germy, sometimes moody, but inspiring young people. 

Even though I felt called to the profession, becoming a teacher has been the steepest learning curve I ever encountered. It has taken me all this time to develop systems and a classroom management style that works for me. And I’m still learning, every day, and also by the hour, how to be a better teacher. Throughout my journey, I have encountered excellent mentors, rays of light who have guided me and continue to influence my practice. These angels pop into your classroom throughout the week just to say hi, chat, or ask if you need anything.  However, I have also found myself in unfortunate situations where my team members take an individualistic and autonomous approach. During those times I had to rely on my training, perseverance, and Google to create and deliver effective lessons. Lesson planning for a new subject can be grueling work, and after only a few weeks I found myself drained of energy and feeling burnt out. In September! This has happened every year in fact, including the start of the 2019-2020 school year. 

Although I love teaching, I have considered going back to the private sector. The pay is better, and there are typically less stakeholders to be accountable to. Way less than the 150 individual and unique students, as well as parents, teachers, and school resources to coordinate with! But these thoughts are usually fleeting after I remind myself of the creative “office” and “coworkers” I get to enjoy, as well as my glorious summer vacation each year. I love the nature of my work, supporting young people academically and emotionally, and nurturing my relationships with them so that they can learn and grow in a fun and loving space. 

It has been rewarding, and it has absolutely been hard. I didn’t always have the time or energy to make the awesome lessons I strive for, which is disheartening and can make for a challenging day in the classroom. Also, I didn’t always have the support of my colleagues, even though they have years of experience and countless lesson ideas, just waiting in their brains to be picked. So I’ll pick my brain for you, my tips and lessons learned, and share them here. Lastly, I can’t leave out how hilarious the students are, and something new happens from minute to minute. My husband, coworkers, friends, and family members have cracked up over my classroom stories.  I want to share all those laugh out loud moments with you, and share the joy I feel in my job. I imagine you will recall some silly things from your school days too.