A Look Inside Me

I'm expanding off my last post. Here's what I learned about myself during this long-term subbing position:

-God will never give me more than I can handle. What this means for me....I can take on quite a bit and still be OK. I started in the middle of the school year with a tough situation and turned it into a decent thing.

-Sometimes I do better under pressure. Shocker!!! This has always been the case, but it was nice to test it out and see that it applies not only to homework assignments, presentations, and papers in college...but also now that I'm teaching. A little pressure can push us all to do a little better.

-I can have patience when I want to. This was a big one....and I'm still processing through it. The only way to really obtain patience is to practice it. If you know me, you know that I like kids that have some independence to them, some ability to think on their own, some ability to work on their own. Well, fourth graders are still learning each of these skills. Basically, I think I have selective patience (kinda like selective hearing)--only for situations and people when I feel like being patient. This is not OK. It's not OK to be patient all day with 27 fourth graders and then not be patient with your husband, the checker at the grocery store, or anyone else for that matter after school. I'm going to work on this.

-I am confident in my education at UNI. I am confident in interviews. I am confident talking and relating with other teachers. I've had practice at it, and I can do it. No more theory anymore--I've put collaboration into practice. It's nice to have the experience under my belt of being a fellow teammate.

-I can teach other subject areas besides Math. This was a big confidence booster for me. I still feel most passionate about Math and most comfortable, but I can at least entertain the idea of teaching something else without gagging. Progress, my friends.

-I learned how to do as much as I can to the best of my ability and then say, "ENOUGH!" when I need to take a little break to do something for myself and my family. That was a great lesson, but it's still a work in progress. I think most teachers feel like they could do "school stuff" for 24 hours every day and still have some other idea that they didn't quite get to yet...

I know there is more. This is what I have for right now. Clearly I am a processor. I can't just end an experience without thinking and reflecting on it (UNI has trained me well); it just doesn't work that way.

There's a look inside my head. Now off to the laundry.....oh the joys of being semi-employed again.