As I write this, I am coming up on my last week of teaching kindergarten. I am amazed at how quickly this year has gone! I pursued and accepted this position with joy and high expectations… mostly expectations of ME as a teacher. Looking back, I see that my expectations of myself- as usual- were very high.
If I were to sum up this school year, I would have to call it a year of change. During the school year, I lost a couple kids… I gained a couple kids… I changed how I did things… I changed the desks around several times… I changed my tolerance of acceptable classroom noise level… I even changed classrooms when a leak made itself known by pouring down water from one of our ceiling lights.
The good news is, I love change. I thrive on change. Change keeps me on my toes and makes me re-evaluate how I do things. Change keeps me from collecting too much “stuff”. Change forces me to grow as a person and as a teacher. Change keeps me from growing complacent. I know a lot of people who don’t like change, but as far back as I can remember, change has been an integral part of my life.
We moved a lot when I was a kid. I remember that feeling of excitement I’d get when I found out we were moving to a new house. I’d happily start packing up my things, getting rid of things I had outgrown or just didn’t want, and lovingly sorting out the things that meant something to me. Most of my personal stuff fit into one big box.
I loved getting used to a new house… learning the layout and discovering its secrets. I loved arranging my new room to suit my tastes.
If I had it my way, I would move every couple years… minus the escrow hassles and loan fees. Not to mention, packing up a house is a whole lot more work than packing up a boxful of childhood treasures. Still, I would do it. Why? Because I like change.
Where am I going with this? I don’t really know, except to say I am thankful that I got to satisfy the part of me that needs to experience temporary chaos. The kind of chaos I can fix, organize, and simplify.
I don’t know what the next school year will hold, other than I am slotted to teach fourth grade (but like all jobs these days, there is no guarantee of anything). Do I want another year of change? I don’t think so. I’d rather have changes in other areas of my life and that will be fine with me. But then, I’ll take on whatever life throws at me.