Today is the last day of 2011. Tomorrow we change over our calendars again and start another new year. This past year has been filled with many challenges and opportunities and I know that 2012 will be as well. In 2011 I finished my first full year of having my own classroom. It was the first time I taught only in French for the whole year as well. Now that we're preparing to switch over to English in a month I can see some of the advantages and disadvantages of both keeping the same class and switching with another teacher. I found February to be a very stressful. While I had taught my new homeroom class in the afternoons for a short amount of time during the first half of the year, I didn't know them as well and it was very much like starting over again with them. It was basically like having September all over again, except it was in February when my energy level wasn't as high because I hadn't had the summer break before it. But at the same time, I didn't have to do much to my classroom and I got to re-teach a lot of the lessons I had already taught to the other class.
This year I keep my class the whole year so I won't have that feeling of September in February, but I do have a lot of work that I'll have to do in my classroom to get it changed over. I have to replace my word wall, change my sound wall into my CAFE wall and, biggest challenge of all, I'll need to bring in my English classroom library and sort it and store it in the classroom and figure out what to do with my French library. But I'm looking forward to seeing how my students are when we do the English curriculum.
Also this year I worked with two different principals, both wonderful and supportive to work with. I've been very blessed to be able to work with such wonderful colleagues, and now to have Mrs. W work with me in my classroom has been an amazing help. This was also the first year where I stayed in the same school, the same classroom even. I'm very luck to be able to do that this early in my career, especially give then current job shortages. I am very grateful to have a job and grateful that I am able to speak French which enabled me to get a job when there are so few out there.
In my personal life this year has also had some ups and downs. My husband and I went to far too many funerals this year for friends and family members who passed away this year, three of whom were taken from us far too early. We also have had friends give birth and become pregnant. I'm looking forward to having another niece or nephew who is due to arrive in March and I recently found out that another friend is expecting her second child.
I joined a new writing group this year and got in to a musical. I wrote a lot and read a lot. I enjoyed supporting my husband's band while they played in lots of great places like the ECMA's, Harvest Jazz and Blues and Music New Brunswick. I had a great time filming their shows and sharing them on YouTube. I'm so excited about their upcoming shows and their new CD that's in the works.
Yes, this year has had a lot of ups and downs. I look forward to all the joys and challenges that 2012 will bring.
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