I began my first teacher blog in 2014 as a student teacher with my domain name. It chronicled my practicum year and my first months in the classroom. As I’m posting to this blog I am reflecting on how much I have learned since I last posted to that blog in 2017. Reading my old posts so full of wonder and excitement I realize that is something that has not changed since I began teaching. I am still excited to go to school every morning and try new things with my classes. What I am trying has changed but my reason to has not. I want my students to have the best possible experience in school. I am continuing to set goals for myself and push my self to be the best teacher possible. When I began my initial blog I was 22 years old with no real idea what to expect even though both my parents are educators, it’s one thing to hear stories at the dinner table and to do it yourself. After 4 years now in the same grade I’m feeling settled and like I am starting to get a good understanding of the needs of grade 4 students which is allowing me to dig deeper into new ideas and approaches and to try new things. My goal area right now is math and making it meaningful and accessible to every student in my class. What I have learned in my current course has been very helpful with that and given me new things to try each week, and I try them, it’s not always successful but I always learn something. I’m looking forward to continuing trying new things and seeing what could come next. I do know that while I will always have favourite projects and activities that I do with my classes, I will never be someone who repeats everything year to year. Part of growing and changing as a teacher means taking risks with new approaches and ideas and being prepared to try something and admit if it didn’t work, even if it means reteaching the lesson tomorrow.
