As an educator who's passion has always been in the realm of narrative and personal writing, it seems only natural that I would document my professional experiences to this point through a weekly blog. My professional journey this year has taken an unexpected turn, and so for my first post, I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on how these changes, and what they mean for my professional life. In 2019, I began pursuing getting a Masters Degree with a focus in Literacy Education. I had planned to substitute teach while working on my Masters, nervous about how I would handle the workload of teaching in a new district in conjunction with homework/responsibilities for my masters. However, instead, I happened upon a part time Reading Interventionist in a town just outside of Jackson MI, Hanover Horton. (image from https://www.hanoverhorton.org/) This position gave me a unique opportunity to take the valuable information I was learning about the different aspects of reading development, and directly apply them in a professional setting. Many of the projects completed for my Masters came from small groups whose data I was extremely familiar with. They were students who I worked with on the daily, and I was excited to dig into their data to come in with lessons designed to meet exactly their level. I learned in this position just how important foundational reading support is in a district school. I also grew to love the world of reading intervention. Once the pandemic hit, however, my job description shifted. I went from seeing my students in person every day, to (overnight) being stuck at my home until the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Though virtual learning was attempted, a number of my students struggled with the technology, or even having a WiFi connection, as my school was out in the country. With the start of the 2020-2021 school year, I faced, as an educator, the impact that 'staying home' had upon the students of our school. Data demonstrated that while some students were on grade level, there were more students than years before who were years behind. Our school, as I'm sure was the case with interventionists everywhere, handled this with a push towards small groups. The logistics of this were a struggle with the implementation of new cleaning routines and quarantine procedures, but we pushed through and instruction stayed mostly consistent. Due to the challenging nature of the pandemic, however, interventionists were frequently pulled to do other jobs. By the end of the school year, I was spending more days substitute teaching than I was doing small group work. While I loved working as an interventionist, I found myself looking forward to the structure of whole group classroom routine when I substitute taught. There was something comforting about the consistency of a day to day classroom routine, and of spending all day with the same students. Even though I still had a year left of my Masters, there was a part of me that missed the community of classroom teaching. Over the Summer of 2021, I spent my time casually looking for a more full time reading interventionist position. I was, however, still planning on staying at my current spot. In my applying, I noticed that the city I currently lived in, Lansing, was hiring for teachers of all grade levels. On a whim I applied, and was quickly contacted by the district. Lansing School District holds a special place in my heart, simply because it is where I did every one of my placements throughout my college experience. My student placement at Willow Elementary School was particularly meaningful, and was one of the schools I actually considered for employment. However, after talking to several principals in the district, I found myself walking into my current place of employment, Forest View Elementary School. I was drawn to the school due to the closeness of the school's colleagues, and due to it's environmental education focus. My school also has a daily option of 'outdoor classroom', a school garden, multiple planned, outdoor field trips, among other great benefits. This image is taken from Forest View's Facebook Page. I came into this school September of 2021 as a 2nd grade teacher mid year. It was nerve wracking, as my last permanent classroom teacher position hadn't been until 2018 by this point. I was nervous until approximately 30 seconds after I walked into my classroom on the first day. The kids in my class impressed me from day one, and continue to impress me to this day with their kindness and integrity. They have a lot to say (while maybe not always at the right times), but welcomed me as their teacher with open arms. This year has held it's challenges, but it is invaluable to face these challenges with my 23 inquisitive, kind, and hilarious 7-9 year olds. Most of the blog posts moving forward on this site will feature the activities, lessons, and challenges that these new experiences have brought me to this point. Tune in next week for a talk about DIFFERENTIATION, and why, in some ways, it can seem like an impossible task- particularly in the face of Omnicron. After just coming off of an unplanned quarantine, I am even more reminded of how the state of the world right now is directly impacting the world of education.
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Lindsay BarnhartJust a teacher, trying her best to learn as much as she can about Education :) Archives
March 2022
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