Well, I've been on a blogging hiatus for the past four months or so. Sadly, it fell by the wayside during my full-time student teaching months. I'm sure it would have been interesting (at least to me!) to have documented my growth as a teacher during that time if I had had time to do it. I learned a lot about teaching, and also a lot about myself. Mostly I came out not wanting to be a "regular" classroom teacher (at least for now) and this caused me a couple of months of distress and confusion over how to proceed, as I still deeply love teaching children.
Luckily, during my student teaching this year, I had the privilege of working closely with a teaching specialist who does only academic intervention work and I became enamored with pursuing this path. I was not optimistic, as there are not many of these positions available and most seemed to be filled with ex-classroom teachers (I therefore assumed that to be requisite experience). I put out applications and began stockpiling resources for substitute teaching, which I assumed would be how I would gain the experience necessary to get the job I really wanted. To my surprise and delight, however, I was granted an interview at a school that has a strong need for math intervention, my particular passion and field of expertise. This is lucky because most intervention teachers I have met focus almost exclusively on literacy.
And so, although in April and May I suffered through much doubt and anxiety over where my certification journey would lead me, I now feel so blessed to be heading into a somewhat unique position that feels like a natural fit to my strengths and passion. As I savor the last few weeks of summer, I aspire to return to blogging through my journey as I begin my first teaching assignment. As pre-service teachers, we were taught about the importance of reflection. In fact, we were forced to reflect so regularly via blogs and papers that I sometimes resented the requirement. But now (obviously, since I am returning voluntarily) I can appreciate the value of the practice and I hope to use blogging to support my own growth as a teacher, even if no one else is listening :-)
