Move Out Of Your Comfort Zone

If anyone had asked me this weekend if I wanted to continue teaching year 3/4, I would have probably said no! This weekend I have spent more time staring at a computer in-between juggling the children and my domestic goddess roles and I am knackered.

I have forgotten what it is like at this age. I love the challenge, the different relationships you have but getting my head around everything is taking longer than I thought.

I have gone from teaching Stage 7-8 maths to Stage 5 and that is a whole new concept for me. Stage 7-8 was fine for me as it was where my year 6’s (in the UK) were at so slotting back into NZ wasn’t too hard. But Stage 5 is a whole new ball game. I have had to learn strategies’ and terminology that I am not familiar with while getting my head around what they can and can't do yet. I have devoured Book 5 and asked a multitude of questions to team members. I have even scoured the internet to find the key ideas broken down so that I know exactly what knowledge and strategy's  I need to be doing. It’s also getting my head around the fact that I am working with numbers a lot smaller than I am used to.

Then there is writing. Realising that some can and can’t write. That I need to remember that they have limited vocabulary and if I’m going to use terms like ‘outrageous’ ‘cunning’ and ‘sly’ I am also going to have to explain their meanings. That when I talk about a semi colon they might not actually know what this is alongside brackets as well. Although I do love this quote I saw on Twitter the other day and something I believe in.

My head is about to explode.

But although completely drained and exhausted I can still smile. It’s nice to get out of my comfort zone and to challenge myself. I am able to tell my students that this is all new to me, that I will make mistakes but it’s ok because that is how I learn. And what is great is that they see me make these mistakes, take the risk and sometimes look completely bamboozled at situations in the classroom. But in the end they see me smile and try again and that is what counts. A teacher modelling to them that risks are part of life, mistakes do happen and we can learn from them and still feel great inside.