The Next Phase of My Journey - A First Year Teacher

I am thrilled to be able to log my experiences as a first year teacher. I hope that the reflections help me to serve the children I teach better, as well as help others who may be in similar circumstances.

All the signals point to the first year of a teacher's career as potentially one of the most challenging to be faced. That being said, I am excited to tackle the experience head-on and enjoy each step of my journey, in spite of any roadblocks along the way!

The generosity of teachers, friends, and family members has been incredible as I begin to collect resources for my first classroom. Building my classroom library alone has been a challenge and I know will be a work-in-progress well into the school year and beyond. Every bit of floor space, nook, and shelving houses some resource for my classroom. I have a 5 foot tall stack of carpet square samples that a local carpet store donated me. I have a computer, oversized educational posters, and 7 crates full of childrens books. This is just the beginning of the list.

I was able to visit my classroom space which is currently undergoing construction. It is nearly a perfect square of a room with plenty of windows. It was exciting for me to see, in spite of the missing walls, outlets and the like! In a matter of 6 to 8 weeks I will be setting up the room. I have purchased a number of books to help me with that task. I will be using a "workshop" approach to facilitate teaching and learning which guides the set-up of our learning space. The books that guide my room set-up thus far are;

"First Grade in Photographs: A Thoughtful and Practical Guide for Managing and Teaching Literacy in the First Five Weeks and Throughout the Year" by Judy Lynch

"Keys to the Classroom: A Teacher's Guide to the First Month of School" by Carrol Moran

"The New Teacher Toolbox" (2nd Edition) by Scott Mandel

The "model" or format through which I will be facilitating teaching and learning using a workshop approach I studied and worked with during my student teaching in a 1st grade classroom called "Comprehensive Literacy." The books that guide this model are;

"Scaffolding Young Writers: A Writers' Workshop Approach" by Linda Dorn & Carla Soffos

"Apprenticeship in Literacy: Transitions Across Reading and Writing" by Linda Dorn, Cathy French, & Tammy Jones

"Teaching for Deep Comprehension: A Reading Workshop Approach" by Linda Dorn & Carla Soffos

"Shaping Literate Minds: Developing Self-Regulated Learners" by Linda Dorn & Carla Soffos

Of course my preparation at UWM was invaluable in providing me with an immense amount of knowledge and experiences that without would render these books powerless. Subcribing to one model alone is insufficient. Rather, using what I have learned in my academic preparations as the foundation for the model I will use to teach is what I strive for. Meeting the needs of every child requires endless adaptations that I look forward to journaling about as I experience them.