What a Year...

At the start of the school year, if you had told me I would have finished the school year in North Carolina, I would have told you that you were nuts. If you had told me that I'd have the most challenging, dramatic, frustrating year of my life, I would have laughed in your face. This year was all of that and much, much more. My school year started off back near Albany, New York as a computer aide. I was going into my third year as an aide, still looking for a teaching job. Everything was going normal until Friday, December 6. I was doing my usual Facebook stalking when I stumbled across a status from a friend that was an RA with me at SUNY Potsdam. It said that his school in North Carolina was in need of a teacher. I almost ignored the status and didn't take action. Where would I be today if I had ignored it? Instead, two days later, I emailed the principal my resume. The very next day, he called me and asked me to fly down for an interview. On Wednesday, December 11, I flew down, had my "interview" where he asked me very few education related questions, and I was hired on the spot. On January 20, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I moved to North Carolina and started my job as a first grade teacher the very next day. Saying that what ensued over the next 5 months was challenging is the biggest understatement in the world. I have never been pushed harder in my life. I've told people that the most challenging year in my life was my junior year of college because of everything that went on during school and in my personal life. This year has topped that or is a very close second. There were days I would drive home and tears would come down my face. Then I would start laughing at the fact that I was crying. I was an emotional mess. I would call my mom at least once a week and she would tell my dad, "Shane's having a melt down again." The rural area I taught at was depressing. The kids came from nothing and had very little parent involvement. That's one of the reasons it was so hard to get these kids to behave. Many of them didn't have the strong parent support from home. The principal I worked for was very hard to get along with. He was very inconsistent, lacked communication skills, and could be aggressive when yelling at you at times. It was not a pleasant working environment for me. Believe it or not, I never once thought that I had made a mistake by moving down here. I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. What are those reasons? We will never know. There were 7 or 8 other teachers at my school right around my age. I started hanging out with them regularly outside of school at the end of March. They are the only reason I was able to survive this mess. We were in it together. As you know from my other blogs, outside of school this semester, I have had the time of my life! I went to a Billy Joel Concert, two hockey games, a UNC game, the NCAA tournament, and three rounds of the U. S. Open. I would not have been able to go to any of those events if I didn't act on my friends Facebook status. I would not have become a much stronger person and teacher if it weren't for this school. One of the things on our checklist before we left was an exit interview with the principal. I was told he would ask us to give him something positive about him and the school and something negative. I had no idea what I was going to say. As I went to that school for the last time ever today, I picked up my check, he signed my sheet and told the group that was standing in the office, "Have a good summer, y'all." He didn't wish the many people that are leaving the school for the same reasons I am good luck or shake our hands or anything like that. We never had an actual exit interview with him. I think it was a fitting end to the way he has treated many of us all year long. Although this has been one of the hardest years of my life, I have made many new incredible lifelong friends throughout this journey. I have grown as a teacher and a person. I do not regret my decision to come teach in North Carolina one bit. I am so happy to be finished with that school and I cannot wait to start up fresh and ready to go at my new school in August. What will my first full year of teaching bring? We will find out in a few months.