Sage Wisdom

Dear First Years,
At this point in time, you are undoubtedly being inundated with anecdotal words of wisdom from the mouths of jaded and exhausted second year MTCers. While it’s true that we have one year under our belts and have gained knowledge and perspective on many things, I think you should keep two things in mind when listening.

1. We only just finished out first year of teaching, so while we mean well and would never misguide you or anyone else… we are still pretty new at this. Along with that freshness comes a relative inability to be objective. I am writing this blog while still sitting in my classroom at Byhalia Middle School, so don’t think that the short trip over to Holly Springs tomorrow will suddenly enlighten me. Not enough time has passed. I and the other second years (except maybe Matthew Gioia) will give you the best advice we can, but don’t take it as gospel.
2. Nothing is ever as bad as it seems. For me, the worst thing about last summer was being scared to death by the awful stories I heard from second years. They talked of terrible children, unbearable stress, and isolation from friends and family. I heard so much of it that I dreaded coming back to Mississippi at the end of July and thought for sure that I was in for the worst, most stressful two years of my life. I don’t want to say that none of what they said was true or applicable to my situation, but it definitely would have been better for me to come into this job completely unbiased. So… listen to the stories… enjoy the stories… but then forget them. No one MTCer has ever had the same experience, and you should truly look forward to discovering yours on your own.

I can’t wait to watch you all grow through this next year. I am such a different person compared to who I was a year ago, and I would not have it any other way. I can’t tell you how proud it makes me to tell people I am a teacher, and it makes me even prouder to tell them where I’m a teacher. Our job is a difficult one and when you make it to this time next year you will truly feel like you can do anything. Attack every day with every bit of yourself that you can muster (some days it’s not much) and I can promise you that by the end of next year you will have no regrets.