Page Text: By Elizabeth Dentlinger
My blog has been rather dormant as of late. After the arrival of my daughter , my priorities majorly shifted. I relinquished some professional duties and stopped using social media for professional reasons. I really don’t regret my choices! I don’t want to die and have “here lays a professional Twitterer and Blogger” on my tombstone. I am so enamored with my daughter and loved being a part time teacher so I could spend more time with her in her first year. However, my bank account didn’t love it so much and I had to pursue full time employment opportunities. Today marks the end of my first week back at the grind, full time, at my new scholarly home. I will be teaching Spanish 1 all day long to 8th graders (with a dash of 9th graders) in a department of six that covers both Spanish and French!
There has been so much I’ve been thankful for this week that I wanted to take a moment to jot these things down for myself:
I am so thankful for a department that is eager to learn about TPRS, CI, and Standards Based Grading. They have questions for me, they want to “talk shop” and many have acquired readers to use this year!
I am thankful that there are multiple ways to get to my new work location – and that one of them is 10 miles shorter, the same amount of time, and has multiple gas stations and a Starbuck’s on route.
I am grateful to be in a district that is SO supported by the community – including financially. One local organization funds grants for teachers/students, offers scholarships to high schoolers going into education, and so much more.
I am thankful for a large room, with a window, ample storage, and two whiteboards. I’ve taught in windowless rooms, I’ve taught in a closet (practically) and I’ve made one whiteboard work… but two is better than one.
I am thankful to be able to tape things to my walls again and have them stay up. At my last school NOTHING stayed up!
I am grateful for the BEST insurance I’ve ever had in my life. Like seriously. I have a $100 deductible and an out of pocket max of $500. All for $14 a month! I had worse coverage than that for which I paid way more at my previous school.
I am thankful for the amazing goodies I’ve received: a really nice keychain and pin, free apparel, coffee cups, multiple gift cards, a protein shake mixer, and so much more. I thought my last school branded well – but my new school takes it to a whole new level!
I am thankful to learn I get a whole week’s more of sick time, plus five separate emergency days for when/if my daughter is sick.
I am grateful to be full time, but not teaching and on my feet much past when I used to be done teaching part time. How did I get so lucky?
I am thankful that my sister was able to come for the week and take care of my daughter while I was working. It was nice because I knew she was in good hands, and my sister got some quality time with my daughter which is hard since she lives in Michigan.
I enjoyed my superintendent’s message that we need to be warriors for our profession and public education.
It’s pretty obvious that I’ve been pretty reflective this week. I started teaching in a small town in western Iowa as a department of one with three preps, moved on to another small school in the metro into a department of two and covered three preps, then moved onto a department of three in a larger (for Iowa) school with two preps. It’s crazy to think I will now only have one prep and work in a department of 6 that teaches more than just Spanish! I am excited to bounce ideas off of more brains, to try and pick up some French, and to have to prepare less for my classes!
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! I hope to be sharing more about my school adventures soon!