The new school year

This is my third year in the classroom and it has been the best start to the school year that I have had. I attended the summer session of NTI in the summer of 2007 before I had ever stepped foot into a classroom as a teacher. I worked hard and enjoyed the class very much. I believed, and still believe, that it was the most useful information that I have ever recieved out of any class I have taken. Even though I went through NTI that summer, when I started my first teaching job that fall I felt so overwhelmed. I felt like I was barely hanging on. My family suffered, my health suffered, and I thought I would never make it through the year. I do know that had I not attended NTI, I would have walked out. I am not someone who quits, but I really considered it everyday. The only thing that kept me going was the information that I had learned in NTI. It helped me have some sense of order and structure. I would have been completely lost if I had not spent so much time working on lesson plans that summer. The classroom management skills that I learned helped me keep my composure on many days that first year! Now, two years and a school change later, I finally feel that teaching really is for me. I have had a fantastic start to the school year! I still have a long way to go and so much to learn to be the kind of teacher that I want to be, but I'm on my way. I'm looking forward to learning so much more from NTI this year. I'm glad to be back!