No First Day Jitters

I miss teaching.  This past month, Facebook has been filled with "first day back" pictures, teacher nightmares and room set-ups.  My teacher friends in the south (who are now in their 4th full week of school) have posted plenty of "grading," and "lesson planning" updates late at night and on the weekends.  Thus is the life of a teacher.

And to be clear, I don't miss that.  The constantly over-full days, never accomplishing everything you had planned, showing up well before the bell rings, and staying well-past dinner time.... just to take home a few more hours of planning, or research, or grading.  Those are (some of) the reasons I stopped teaching.

But this is the first Back To School season in 6 years I'm not experiencing as a teacher.   I miss the excitement of new students, the energy that flows (and explodes) through those little bodies, teaching brains that are so eager to learn.  I miss teaching reading and writing.  I think I miss writing the most.  Weird, I know.  I miss building relationships with students and parents.  I love when students know me well enough to predict a response, and when they know each other well enough to have productive learning groups.  I love challenging students, patiently allowing them to struggle, and joyfully celebrating when they succeed.  I miss the challenge as a teacher to figure out various learning styles and to plan with those particular students in mind.  Just writing this brings specific faces to mind.

I am so grateful for my time as a teacher.  I have no idea what our future in Hawaii holds as far as employment, but I certainly hope it includes teaching.  For our circumstances, the ideal position would be part-time working with elementary students.  Beyond the obvious challenge of us not living there yet, I also have the obstacle of transferring my teaching license, and the upcoming obstacle of having a baby.  I mean, let's be honest... if you had the choice of hiring a pregnant teacher who will take a maternity leave in January, or the choice of hiring a non-pregnant teacher, which would you choose?

Will you join me in praying for the right job, in the community where we will live?  What an opportunity to know our neighbors!