The Real World

As graduation approached and the crazy(yet incrediblly rewarding)life of being a student teacher came to an end, I began thinking about the next step. I had a lot of questions. Where do I go from here? What do I do next? Naturally, I was excited to graduate. At the same time however, I felt this sense of overwhelming anxiety because of all the unanswered questions. After five years of college, I would no longer have the structure and schedule of each quarter being planned out. The real world approached and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I was planning on moving to Galveston, Texas with sister to spread my wings and get out of the Washington bubble for a few years but decided that I was not ready to leave my family behind. My sister decided to move back to Washington and we got a nice apartment together. I applied for two teaching jobs, a first grade and kindergarten position. I was fortunate enough to make it to the interview which was a blessing in itself seeing as there was a huge stack of applicants. These were my first teaching interviews and although I consider myself a personable and confident person, I was incredibly nervous. Both interviews went great, but they ended up hiring teachers with prior experience. Understandable yet frustrating. How I am supposed to gain experience if I am not given the opportunity to prove myself? Now that school was over and I didn't have to worry about getting a classroom together for the fall, all I had to look forward to was work and free time. Not having lesson plans to write, papers to grade, or exams to study for was a fantastic feeling. But after a few months, I began to miss school. Who would have EVER thought that would happen? In mid-October, I began looking into Masters programs. My mentor teacher had earned hers through Walden University so that is where I started. I noticed that they had a starting day at the end of the month and applied for their Reading and Literacy PreK-6 program. I got in and was ecstatic! It is a 20 month, online program but you are allowed to double up classes if your schedule allows after the first semester. I only started Monday, but already I am learning so much.