The past year has gone by extremely fast.  As I reflect on myself and how much I have changed, it amazes me.  I could not have anticipated how much I have grown.  I have seen many professional changes in myself.  I have noticed that I am more willing to speak up in professional meetings and share my questions and comments.  I am comfortable collaborating with other teachers.

When I started out, I was nervous and shy.  I felt like a visitor in my building.  I was nervous to actually be teaching children and in front of another adult.  I quickly realized that I had to be confident in my abilities in order to succeed in the classroom.  The students are able to pick up on any uneasy feelings that the teacher has and use that to their advantage. 

As I was preparing to leave me second grade class, I was confident in my abilities in that classroom.  However, I was hesitant to enter a sixth grade classroom because of the preconceived notions that I had about sixth graders.  I was scared and did not want to take this new adventure.  It did not take me long to realize that my beliefs were misinformed and sixth graders were really a lot of fun.  My teacher would give me some basic guidelines of what she wanted accomplished for the day and then let me prepare a lesson.  This was a great opportunity for me to work with the students.  By the time I knew it, winter break was arriving and I had to prepare to leave again.  I was no longer nervous or hesitant about sixth grade, I loved it!  I hated to leave my great group of sixth graders because I enjoyed the independence level that they had. 

I re-entered my second grade class with mixed emotions.  I was glad to be back and working with my mentor again, but at the same time I missed my sixth graders.  It was a rough transition, but I made the best of it.  I slowly worked back into the second grade classroom and took on a new role, as their teacher.  At the beginning of the year, I had a few small parts of the day, but at this point I was taking over whole subjects and working on taking on the whole day.  I struggled with respect from a few students, but overall they were learning that I was in charge and they needed to pay attention.  Before long, it was time to start handing back some of the reigns to my mentor teacher.

This past year has been a rollercoaster of feelings.  The overall trend has been that I seem to be more worried and concerned about things, but then they always end up fine.  I now feel comfortable taking on a classroom of my own because I have spent an entire year learning about myself and teaching.