The End.

It is my last day at my teaching job, it is supposed to be a teacher work day.  However, I finished all of my work already, and am just left to ponder the end that has just occured in my life.  Yesterday was the students last day, and it turned out to be surreal.  It was very hard to say goodbye to some of my students, because I had really formed a bond with them.  One girl left the room crying because she was going to miss me, since I was not coming back next year.  It brought tears in my eyes because within this one person I saw that I had an impact on her life.  She was crying because I was leaving, it was so sad.  My students are all gone today, and I sit here all alone in my room.  The only memory I have left of my first teaching gig is the sign on the white board that says: "We love Ms. Rieger and we will miss you!!"  My students wrote it yesterday, and the janitors were so nice to leave it up for me to look at today. 

Now I am left to look back on my life, and wonder what God has in store for my future.  I don't have a clue what is to come.  Some days I accept it, and other days I freak out wondering why moving to Seattle can't be easier.  I sat in my room this morning looking at the note from my students, looking at the beautiful scenary out my window, the flag in the corner of my room, and the emptiness that now lives here.  I prayed that I will get another chance to teach in Seattle, that I will make more connections with my students, that I will look out the window and see water and mountains, that I will have another room with another flag in the corner, and the my classroom will be filled with the joy from students learning History.

Finals…

I am nearing the end of my first teaching job, and I am both excited and sad.  I will be moving on from this job, and hopefully begining a new teaching job in Seattle.  I worry that I will not love teaching as much as I do here, but many people tell me that teaching is teaching no matter where you are.  If I like it here, I will like it anywhere. 

I was listening to the radio this morning and they had listeners call and identify their favorite teacher.  As I was listening I had the overwhelming feeling that I hope to be someone's favorite teacher soon.  I have found that with teaching I really do have an impact on my students, and subsequently future citizens of the United States.  It is an amazing feeling when a student thanks me for something I have done for them.  I hope I can continue on this path, and one day maybe even be teacher of the year!

Fragile Hearts

There are many advantages to building relationships between the teacher and students. Many of my educational classes focused on how good it is to build strong relationships with the kids, because it creates a caring and respectful classroom. I have really taken this skill to heart while I am developing my own teaching style. In fact, I try and make it a top priority in my classes. There are so many advantages to doing this, however today I felt both joy and a sense of being overwhelmed. I know my students enjoy my classes, it will never get old hearing a student say that I am their favorite teacher, they "actually" learned somthing from me, or my class is their favorite. It makes me smile and feel that I can have an impact in young lives that can be positive. Today though, I saw one of my students crying, so I asked her if she needed to talk to me. I sat and listened, overwhelmed by what was upsetting her. The emotionally charged story she told me about her father leaving her and her mom and the ramifications it is causing in her life made me really hurt for her. I have and hope to always have an open door policy for my students that I am here if they have problems. This girl, who usually is more of a tomboy and in the popular crowd, was so broken-hearted. In that moment, I was thankful that she trusted me to listen, but I was the one who felt weak. I had no idea what to say, all I could think was that this girl should not have to be dealing with all of this at 16. All I could do was pray that God would give me the right words to say. It hit me that there will be many times in my life and career that I will hear emotional stories that I have not had to deal with in my own life, but that I need to be a comfort figure for each person. As I sit here now, I feel that I did a good job listening, but I didn't do a good job helping. I didn't know what to say, I won't always know what to say. So I sit here feeling for this student, not knowing how to help her, but hoping that what I could say to her in the moment can comfort her for a little while.

Nervousness…

Yesterday I decided it was time to tell my school that I would not be coming back next year.  It was very hard, and sad to do, because I have enjoyed this job so much.  I then started to look for new teaching jobs out in Seattle.  It got me a little down as I found the Social Studies jobs are kinda few and far between.  I hope to someday get a Masters in Special Education, but for now I am limited to Social Studies, which I love a lot too.  However, I am just nervous that I will not find a job.  It is such a hard thing to think about. 

Get a life…

"For Pete's sake, if you can't trust your Supreme Court justice more than that, get a life," Supreme Court Justice Scalia

Teaching Seniors in High Schoolers American Government has been fun this past semester.  We are starting our unit on the Judicial Branch, and I have enjoyed Scalia's outspoken opinions over the past few years.