From reading everyone else's blogs, it seems my week was just as hectic. I had a somewhat panic attack the other night. I was looking through some material that our SkillsUSA advisor had provided listing the names of the state competitors that were going to Gwinnett. When reading through the list, I didn’t see any of the girls names that I was helping with the promotional bulletin board. I thought that the teacher next door had listed their names because they were his students. I went in to panic mode because I thought that I had screwed up and had not entered the girls who are all seniors and who had competed last year at nationals this past summer in the same area. I didn’t sleep well at all that night thinking about how much this would disappoint them. I was so worked up the next morning that I actually broke into tears when I spoke to the first teacher about the situation. By the end of the day, they explained the situation to me and the girls will be able to compete.
All of this stress is a result of the school not providing a mentor for me. I feel as if I'm a bumper car trying to drive straight and the bumpers along the side are keeping me somewhat in-line. I have to say that when you hit those bumpers you actually grow stronger and learn from the situations. I just wish that the school would acknowledge that new teachers need someone to walk them through a lot of these new processes. I feel that I'm a fairly intelligent person, but I can't sign-up or fill out applications that I don't know anything about.
I'm hanging on to the hope that next year will be better, at least, that is what everyone keeps telling me.
Boy do I understand how you feel. While it seems that I have a little more help in this area than you have had I still feel as if everyone thinks I already know what to do next, what forms to feel out, what all the "lingo" means, etc.......... I think we mentioned something this summer about putting together a book for new teachers that explains the things we really need to know, especially in terms we understand as the new kids on the block. It would be good if we would follow through with this. Let's talk.
ReplyDeleteI can relate my first year i had a similar experience. followed by a first year teachers meeting during which they had informed us that we all had mentors to help us. I had been struggling was ready to give up so to hear this made me so angry i went back and was venting to the teacher about the meeting and how i wasn't get any benefit from this mentor, I mean I was really raising caine. Allthe sudden he says well I am your mentor. gave me some empty files and said if you need more just let me know.Hang in there it gets easier as we go. Trial and error.
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