CMS

CMS:

    

 This entry is for all my colleagues who will return to my home away from home tomorrow.  This entry is also for all of my friends who have already started teaching or will begin within the next few days.

    I have been teaching for a while. This will be the 12^th September at the same school.  I went to this school as a 7^th and 8^th grader. When I first started teaching, I was working for the principal that was my principal as a student.  I was also working with teachers that were my teachers.  It took me a while to call them by their first names.  These teachers were mentors to me and have been great friends over the years.

     The year that I went into CMS as a 7^th grader, the sixth grades came too.  I was never the youngest in the school.  I made so many great friends at CMS.  Some of the closest friends I have today, I met at CMS.  I also remember someone stealing my jean shorts while I was at gym.  Middle school is a hard time for any kid.  I truly believe that middle school is the roughest time to be a student/kid.  I think that is one reason why I love teaching that age.  I originally thought I was going to teach the little kids. I student taught second grade. I applied to Rockaway Twp. Schools to teach but was planning on the little ones.  However, once I started with middle school, there was no way I could imagine myself in any other grade.   There have been so many students over the years.  So many of them have touched my heart and changed me as a teacher.  I still keep in touch with some of the students from my first year teaching.  What a remarkable group of children.  I was lucky that year, I taught an elective that every seventh grader had to take. I got to teach every 7^th grader that year. Again, what a remarkable group of children they were.

  Well tomorrow is September 1^st and all of my colleagues will be starting the 2011 school year.  Unfortunately, I will not be there with them this year.  I know that some teachers sometimes moan about starting up the school year again.  However, for me, I love the start of the year. I love the new faces and the eagerness to learn. I love the fall time with the leaves turning color. I love watching the students grow from September to June.  Last year, I was out for maternity leave for the start of the school year. Starting in November is not like starting in September.  When my doctors told me there was no way I could teach while going through chemo, I was truly heartbroken.  In my usual Rachel stubbornness, I argued and pleaded my cause.  I was not successful.  I know that I will not be there for the student’s first day but I do know that I will probably still have my nervous butterflies that I get every year.  I will count on my teammate Lee Ann to take tons of pictures that I will feel like I was there to experience it all.  I will count on my teammate George to frighten the children so that they love me when I return.

    I spent some of my couch time (in between the sweeping and mopping) looking up good quotes to end this entry with.  I do hope they inspire all of my teacher friends near and far to have a great year!

Quotes:

“Tell me and I forget.  Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”—Benjamin Franklin. 

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” –Albert Einstein

“A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank…but the world may be a better place because I made a difference in the life of a child.” –Forest Witcraft

I have added this little video that really makes me smile for some reason. We all know that I love Target.  I get super excited when the teacher yells at the hamster.  I will miss teaching about Lewis and Clark this year. By the way....I hate glitter!