(Post title stolen from Galinda, care of Wicked.)
I'm going back to the school where I taught 4th grade to teach a writing workshop tomorrow. I've been preparing for months, and can't wait to see my old friends (old as in previous, not age...love you girls). Josh asked if I'd have trouble getting there, I told him I wasn't sure I'd find my way back. Something about those walls are a little piece of home to me. So many big events in my life happened during my three years at Spring Valley:
- Experiencing my first (and only actually) professional interview
- Having my first classroom
- Falling in love with oh so many students
- Making some great grownup friends
- Awkwardly telling a group of 9-year-olds why I was so round in the middle
- Feeling an outpouring of love from an amazing baby shower
- Teaching my favorite lesson ever (Halloween Spooky Substances, an adventure in adjectives), 4 years in a row (thanks for letting me guest teach last year Tammy)
- Waddling out on a Friday in late January, not knowing I'd be out for 7 weeks
- Stealthily pumping and freezing milk in my classroom for 18 months
- Surviving three years of TAKS trauma
- Learning to be a responsible adult
- Telling my second family that I'd be leaving them
So I can't quite describe how I feel. Excited, nervous, like I'm coming full-circle? Hopefully I'll be able to help, and offer a little advice about the craft of teaching creative writing to a very tactile developmental age group. I have three years worth of information to compact into just a few workshops. Can I communicate effectively? How can the very people who mentored me possibly learn anything from me? Will they even want me to come back for the next two dates? Guess there's only one way to find out.
Next post will have pictures and be all about Ava again, I promise. Just needed to muddle through my thoughts a while. Thanks for listening.
4 comments:
I think you are just going to light a fire under every teacher there to be EXCITED about TEACHING their students during the coming school year. You will do a fabulous job, Autumn. Enjoy yourself!
I'm sure you will do great! I wish I could be there; you definitely have a gift bringing the creativity out of the younger population. On that note, your pre-K center is incredible!
You're exceptionally brilliant and can share your thoughts clearly and effectively. You will have a GREAT trip spending time with "previous" friends and even making new ones. I know you're going to be amazing because you can't be anything other!
You were awesome, but I expected nothing less. The only thing that could have made it any better would have been if you could have stayed for weeks and weeks. I love you.
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