I am so excited to begin this journey of blogging! This is something I wanted to start during my first year of teaching..  I quickly realized I was WAY too overwhelmed to even attempt it. My second and third year of teaching I was in grad school. Now I am done with that, and some of my coworkers began blogging this summer.. it felt contagious!

I currently teach at the elementary school where I attended. I’m a very sentimental person, so it’s been the perfect place to start my journey as a teacher. I will never forget the first day of school as a teacher. My boss saw me in the hall that morning and said, ‘Today’s the first day of the rest of your life.’ You really just aren’t the same after you have a group of kids to call your own. I didn’t realize how attached I would get to my class.. it sounds cliche but again #sentimental over here.

I was fortunate enough to attend the Ron Clark Academy early that year, and it really impacted the way I treated my students going forward. I realized that if you treat your kids like they are a million bucks, they sure do love you a whole lot more! I put more emphasis on my attitude towards them and it transformed our whole classroom culture. In fact, my goal now is to get my kids wrapped around my finger ASAP every year. I know at that point they will do whatever it takes to please me. I think this is the key to it all. You may have heard the quote about kids having a difficult time learning from people they don’t like. It’s kinda funny- and 100% true.

My second year was AMAZING. I think it could easily go down as my best year ever. I had an amazing group of kids, great parents, and can honestly say every day was just a good day. It was my second year with the same content, so I really knew what I was doing.. which was a wonderful feeling. I love teaching math & by the end of that year every single student I taught loved math too. Our grade level had the best math scores in the county and I was so proud to be a part of that. (There were only 4 math teachers in that group so GO US!) Most of my kids cried on the last day- me included- because we didn’t want it to end.

My third year brought lots of change. I was (surprisingly) moved down to 1st grade and the principal who hired me left for our middle school. Between the two changes, I felt devastated! Add the final courses of grad school into the mix & it was a LONG + growing year to say the least. I knew ZERO about phonics and managed to teach kids how to read. Looking back, I can say I didn’t do too bad for a rookie in reading. Luckily this upcoming year I can apply everything I learned last year, but have very high hopes to move up grade levels sooner rather than later. I miss my older kids so very much! (I think if all teachers are being honest, we have a preference of where we feel we belong and thrive.)

I’m looking forward to this ‘blog process’ most of all because collaboration is key in order for us to grow as educators. We can stay on an island (tempting, I know), OR we can branch out, see what others are doing, put our spin on it, & make some magic within our classroom walls. The man who hired me told me to always stay hungry. Never settle. I’ve got three years under my belt & I can say I am currently as hungry as I’ve ever been!

-Brooklyn

You don’t need a cape to be a hero. You just need to care. — Kid President