I'm a planner. More specifically, I'm a scheduler. I love to make schedules and calendars. I can't leave the house without my phone. Not because of my texting (which I'm also a big fan of) or the off-chance that someone might call me. No, my phone has my calendar on it and I hate to be without it. So the one thing that has been driving me crazy since I accepted this position is the fact that I want to make my schedule and can't until probably the day before school starts. I knew this would probably happen, my mentor teacher for student teaching warned me that she usually does her schedule the 1st week of school. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely thinking about it and how to arrange it, but nothing will come to fruition until probably that week of school. The Lord is teaching me patience, I'm sure.
The more I thought about being unable to schedule due to unknown factors got me thinking about all the other things I am unsure about. As a new teacher, I am finding there are many things that I am not going to know until August (the planner in me is hyperventilating). I don't know about my space that I will be working in. OK, I have a general idea, but the last time I saw that room, it was filled with 3 different teachers' stuff and arranged in a manner for these teachers to work with their independent students. I also don't know what stuff I have to put in that space. Do I have tables? Desks? Both? What kind of supplies are already in the room? Am I going to have to take a 2nd mortgage out on my house to pay for manipulatives? I know how many students I have, but what are the types of disabilities, learners, and personalities am I working with on a day-to-day basis? Do I have non-verbal communicators? If so, how are they communicating now? Do my kindergarteners need a nap? Is it OK to have a snack with my 4th graders? Speaking of snacks, what are my students allergic to? ...The planner in me is now balled up in the corner of my mind refusing to come out until she has some answers.
It is just amazing to me the different questions that begin to crop up when I start thinking about the year ahead of me. It can be a little overwhelming when it really gets going in my head and I start coming up with worst-case scenarios (like what if I catch Mono the first day of school and have to live out the rest of the school year an exhausted mess?). Here's the comforting thought: people have done this before. Every semester teachers graduate, find jobs, and go do their thing. Even the not-so-successful teachers set up their rooms and teach kids every single day. Every day, brand new teachers survive in the unknown. Even veteran teachers deal with the unknown each year and come out on top. They have just done it more times than me so they are a little more used to it. I know I'll be fine. I've survived this far, haven't I?
I'm now going to try to coax my planner out from the corner with the promise of doing some lesson brain-storming.
