We're about to start our 7th week of school, and I feel like I'm just
now getting my first day off. I have all of my handouts printed out for
our big Language Arts unit assessment printed off and all of my math,
social studies, and science lessons organized and ready for the week.
It's even a short week, which I don't think actually impacts anyone's
workload, but who knows, maybe that's why I'm finally getting a day off.
I'm horrible at taking days off or even time to myself in any
manifestation, which is probably one reason I do well teaching in bush
Alaska, not getting out to see my family and friends or have a basket of
onion rings for sometimes nine months at a time. Another reason is that
I was raised in an Alaskan village a lot like the one I teach in now,
in fact even smaller, so it's not really all that different for me.
Underscoring
my problems with taking time for what's mine, I actually started this
blog last year, and this is actually my 8th post, I just never finished
any of the other posts. Even though it was my 4th year teaching in King
Cove, I had just switched grades and was experiencing my first year
teaching 6th grade. I was also working to establish myself as a Teachers
Pay Teachers seller, and taken all together it was just too much for me
to do all at once. Who knows, maybe it still is, but I'd like to think
that the mere fact that, even seven weeks in, I'm finally taking a day
off, admittedly badly, and making my first post means that maybe in my
5th year of teaching my dream of being an organized teacher with a
classroom that's all together, a TpT store, a few hobbies, and a little
time to myself may be within reach, even if one of my hobbies is my own
classroom. It still counts!
I'm not entirely sure why I
decided to start this blog last year; I think it just felt like a good
idea, but it took me a year to realize why it felt like such a good
idea. I knew that unlike a lot of teacher blogs coming out of Alaska I
didn't want it to be about the adventure of teaching in Alaska, because
Alaska is home so I don't think it'll ever be the adventure to me it is
to everyone else, which is kind of sad in someways that I can never see
my home with the same excitement as everyone else. I'm sure my life in
Alaska will come up as time goes on since life in Alaska goes hand in
hand with teaching in Alaska, but for me writing a blog about my
teaching adventures would involve moving somewhere exotic like South
Dakota or Texas.
However, over the past year as I've
gotten to know a few other teachers on TpT through product requests I've
discovered that as much as I love my job teaching 6th grade sometimes
being one of only two 6th grade teachers in an entire district can get a
little... dry. Sure I talk shop with my twelve K-12 co-workers, and
everyone is really understanding that I've very work minded and most
conversations with me will be able my classroom. But since we all teach
something different and are around each other for months at a time a lot
of times it feels like there's no one for me to discuss my teaching
ideas with or hear about new ideas from without sounding like a broken
record. Through TpT I discovered that what's always seemed so normal to
me, teaching in Alaska, actually sets me apart, but more importantly
that I can be part of a wider teaching community, even if it's not in
the face to face way I always imagined it would be.
Who
knows, maybe this will be a blog about my great Alaskan adventure, my
adventure just may not look the same as everyone elses.
