Despite my best efforts, I have been horribly and terribly MIA. But this has ALL been with good reason. I have spent the last 5 months as a (cue the scary movie music) MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER!!! AHHH! Surprisingly though, it was not as scary an experience as I had previously imagined. I have to admit that I never in my wildest imagination thought I would 1. be successful at it or 2. enjoy it. I was more than happy to stay in the safe and colorful world that is elementary school.
This last January brought a huge challenge and opportunity my way though. A temporary contracted position opened up at one of the middle schools in my district. I applied for the position and thought I would get at least an interview. It was worth a shot. The position was for a 7th grade Language Arts Intervention teacher. I quickly moved through the interview process which included a panel interview of at least 10 people. This panel included the administration, school counselor, the entire 7th grade Language Arts department, and RSP teachers. I received an email shortly after letting me know I had made it through the first round. Next, I had to put together a SMARTboard lesson for a 7th grade class of 30 students. The lesson had to be 45 minutes, follow the Direct Instruction model, use Thinking Maps and Structured Academic Talk, provide differentiation, and teach students the correct usage of the semi-colon vs. the comma. It was no small feat that I pulled it off! I had about two days to get my lesson together.
The morning of my demo-lesson I was a basket of nerves. I was ready (and had learned a lot about the comma and semi-colon) but still nervous. The good thing was, all of my nerves stayed bottled up inside. I seamlessly taught my lesson to a roomful of 7th graders I had never worked with before and once again the panel of 10. I was very relieved when it was over. (I later found out that only two candidates had made it to this part of the interview process and I was one of them). The following day I received a phone call from the school that there was one more interview I needed to go to. It was at this interview that I found out unofficially how impressed the panel of 10 had been with me and that this middle school wanted me! I was astounded!
This was the beginning of my journey into middle school. This has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have had in my teaching career. It has also been one of the most challenging. I have worked harder as a teacher for my students than ever before. It was all worth it though. And I will be continuing this journey in August when I return once again to middle school. This time I will be teaching 7th grade Language Arts and Social Studies at a new school.
