It's time for a HUGE Thank You!

It's 11:49 on New Year's Eve and the ball is just about to drop in Times Square. I quickly take out my phone (getting it ready to send out all of those very important "Happy New Years" texts to family and friends) and happen to fall upon an email from Donors Choose telling me that one of my larger projects has been funded by one person.  I'm in awe and amazed...and then the ball drops and it's 2016.

I feel like this was a perfect way to start out a new year.  A perfect way to start a fresh and give thanks for all I've received in the past year.  This past year has been a pretty good one-both personally and professionally.

Professionally-it's had a lot of changes and I'm pretty excited about most of them.

This past year, I switched jobs and with switching jobs meant a lot of new things-new grade levels, new subjects to teach (MATH), new ways to do things.  My life had been so focused on literacy and the younger grades the past 8 years that I had almost NO materials for the older grades or MATH.  So, I turned to Donors Choose.  Since accepting my new job, I've written a lot of projects and they've ALL been funded.  I've received amazing materials including-an ipad, a chromebook, a mouse, charging station, folders, math workbooks, paper, glue, printer ink, laminating sleeves, many different math games, math manipulatives, legos and numerous other things I can't even recall at this moment.

I want to take a moment and thank these people (most of whom I don't even know) for helping me create a safe space for my students where I have everything I could ever need (and more) to help them be successful. For helping me be able to try different things to teach topics I've never taught before (including using legos-I'm super excited to start that when school starts back up!).  For helping me gain simple materials like paper and glue that makes it so we teachers can spend all of our time focusing on the important tasks at hand (teaching the little humans of the world).  For making my students excited to learn and explore the world around them.  For being so generous that it actually blows my mind.  THANK YOU!

Turning over a New Teaching Leaf!

At the end of this school year, I finished my 9th year teaching and my 7th year teaching 1st grade.  It is still mind blowing to me that I am old enough to have been teaching for 9 years.  I am in a place (physically-being in Baltimore and professionally-teaching at a Urban Charter School) in my life that I never thought I would be in, and I'm loving every second of it.  There are ups and downs of course, but there are definitely more ups then downs.  I never thought I'd leave Long Island to teach and here I am finding myself living in Baltimore for the past 8 years-a city that I have come to love and call my second "home".

Dressed up like we're 100
years old for the 100th
day of school

I have been so lucky to teach 1st grade for the past 7 years with a great team.  They've gone along with all of my crazy ideas and we have created a strong curriculum that has helped us empower our students to become strong readers whom love school and learning! 1st grade is near and dear to my heart and has been one of the best teaching experiences I have ever had.  I love the excitement and joy that the little ones bring into my classroom every day and the look of pure awe they show when they accomplish something that they thought was impossible just a day ago!  

However, throughout this year I have felt that it was time for a new challenge in my teaching career.  I spent a good portion of my out of classroom time, thinking of what I would like this new challenge to include and the 2 main things that have continued to come up were-special education and educational technology.  I've always had a passion for special education (being dual certified in elementary and special education I always teach an inclusive group of first graders), and felt that it was time to challenge myself in that direction, while still continuing to pursue my educational technology passions.  

So, next year I will be changing positions at my school.  I am very excited about this new change and challenge, but am also very nervous.  I will be leaving the safety net of my amazing team to challenge myself and will be joining a new team that I am very excited to work with.  I am excited to learn new things and push myself in a new direction.  I'm excited to be able to use my passion for technology with a new group of students and see how that passion can help my students grow and thrive towards their goals.  I'm nervous about all of the unknowns that I of course can't control and the fact that I will be trying something new.  I'm nervous of a different type of work, and the fact that I will need to re-teach myself how to balance my life.  But, the excitement continues to outweigh the nervousness and so...it's time and I look forward to whatever comes next. :)    

I look forward to this new challenge and all that will come with it!  Here are to new changes and challenges and all of the possibilities that will come with it!!