I completed my first year teaching! I honestly have procrastinated in writing this and this is why. It seemed almost impossible for me to put into words how my first year of teaching went! So I decided to write three things I learned in my first year teaching, but before I do that let me give you a little background on how I became a teacher.

How I Became A Teacher!

For those of you who don’t know, I teach Middle School Agricultural as my full time job right now! I always knew from a young age I wanted to be a teacher. I just never knew what I wanted to teach. That was until I got to high school. I had to make a choice going into freshman year. Take Agricultural Class or another class (I can’t even remember which one it was). In the moment it was a hard choice, but I decided to try something new and chose ag class. It was definitely out of my comfort zone. Okay so let me say this, I DO NOT come from a farming background. I didn’t know much about agriculture, but I was willing to learn.

Looking back it was one of those points in life that changed everything for me! Going into Ag class, I started as a shy quiet kid in the back of the classroom. Little did I know that would be the class that completely changed my life! (That’s a whole story on its on)

Flash forward to senior year. It was time to decide what in the world was I going to do with my life?? At that point photography was just a hobby I enjoyed, no plans of turning it into a business. I decided that I would become a teacher and teach agriculture. My hope was that I can share that passion that changed my life with others! So off I went to college!

During that time, I never changed my major but I did have MAJOR doubts that teaching would not be for me. The doubt grew so much that my junior year I was ready to give up! I would always say “Im just gonna drop out and flip houses!” (I wanted to be a Jonna Gains at that point in life😂) BUT I am thankful I did not give up and completed my degree! The doubt never went away, I still questioned it all the way up until I started teaching!

3 Things I Learned My First Year Teaching:

1. You can do hard things and things people say you can not do!

Doubt was real! I never thought I was equipped to be a teacher! If I’m being quite honest it is kind of difficult! I’m dyslexic, can’t spell, had a reading comprehension problem from a young age, and ADHD! Which is every sign not to teach… BUT I did it! Starting off every single kid knew I couldn’t spell and that I was dyslexic. And you know what, that was okay! We made it through perfectly fine. My hope in sharing this with anyone is that it will inspire you to remember these two things! Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something because you’re not qualified! And never let something hold you back from doing what you love!

2. Everything is not going to be perfect your first year!

Hi, Hello if you know me you KNOW I am a perfectionist! So this was a tough pill for me to swallow! I wanted to have the perfect lessons, the perfect classroom (which cost a lot of money), and the perfect FFA meetings. I will say, for the most part, I did what I could to make it perfect, but there were definitely bumps in the road. Lessons did not go as I planned and I did not do everything I wanted to, BUT THAT IS OKAY, I constantly had to remind myself this. It is only year one and you have so many more chances to make it better than before!

3. Enjoy where God has you right now!

This is the BIGGEST thing I had to learn this year! To enjoy life no matter where God has you right now. Like I said I went into teaching not knowing if I wanted to do this or not. I also did not think I would like teaching middle school. God definitely showed me I was wrong, I LOVED teaching middle school! I learned to enjoy the little moments of the days, the conversations with my students (or kids as I always say), and the memories we made. With COVID, this year was far from normal for everyone, especially for teachers. Knowing the challenges I could have faced, I was thankful to have somewhat of a normal first year! I wasn’t perfect at it, I still have a lot to learn, but I definitely enjoyed every second of it!

PICTURE TIME!

I hope you enjoy seeing some of the memories from the year as you scroll thought these pictures! Most of these photos are just of my classrooms, fundraisers, and projects I did this year because of privacy reasons I do not post my students. Most of these are iPhone images so do not expect picture perfect images 😁!

I had Chip help me again on one big project for my kids! We build raised beds for a garden at school! The kids LOVED getting to pick and grow something in these!

We threw a HUGE FFA Banquet at the end of the year for High School and Middle School and here are some detail pictures from that!