Welcome to Teaching Creative Minds: Exploring all things teaching

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by and taking a moment to read my words.

You probably want to know a little more about me before anything else. (This looks long, but I promise it comes to a point at the end!) My name is Erin and I was born and raised in South Jersey. One thing I have learned over the years is that many of you have the same story as me. I decided at a young age that I wanted to be a teacher, and devoted my life to participating in jobs and programs that would help get me there. From babysitting and tutoring to volunteering at church, my life revolved around children. I went to school, got my Bachelor's (and later my Master's) in Early Childhood, and was so ready to start my career once I graduated. Except there was one problem; where I live and at that time (pre-pandemic), finding a teaching job was tough. I sent out countless applications and was rejected more times than I could count.

For the first two years after college I was an IA in a new state-funded preschool program. While I was thankful to have this job, I felt like an absolute failure not being able to find a lead position. However, the teacher I worked with was amazing and treated me like a co-teacher rather than an assistant. I quickly learned in the ins and outs of the curriculum and classroom. My second year there, the teacher was switching grades and the position was open. Obviously I applied and long story short, my principal told me at a follow-up meeting "you're good not great and I only hire great teachers." Needless to say, I was devastated. But I took the anger and sadness, turned it into determination, and found a lead position.

The next two years I worked as a lead preschool teacher in inner-city. I was essentially thrown in with no life-persevere. I started two weeks into the school year, was called on a Friday afternoon and told the place and time to show up Monday morning, and given nothing else to start. While extremely nervous, I showed up Monday morning happier than I had been in a long time.

Looking back at my first two years inner-city, there are so many things I wish I had done differently. I thought asking for help was a sign of weakness as a teacher. I believed I should know and do it all, even in my first year. I dealt with so much more than I should have. Oh how I wish I could go back and tell myself, "you need to advocate for yourself!" I put up with and dealt with so many behaviors on my own, thinking it was just how it was. In reality, it would have been okay to say "I need help." I also worked way too hard in the classroom and at home. I truly thought that being an amazing teacher meant putting in extra hours to make sure everything was perfect. Don't get me wrong, sometimes you have to work outside contract time to get it all done; that is an unfortunate flaw in the education system that needs to change. However, I was going too above and beyond for my classroom. Almost every weeknight and weekend I was staying late or working at home.

After working there for two years, I was finally realizing that if I wanted to survive as a teacher, I needed to put myself first. I won't go into details, but there was a lot of micromanagement that was happening where I was, in addition to my overall safety, that I decided it was time to move. I applied an accepted in a nearby district that was opening their state-funded preschool.

I was ecstatic. I applied, interviewed, and was hired because of how great I am (not good, but GREAT). I started in September 2019, and by March 2020, we left our rooms not knowing just how much things would change. At this point, I had found a better work-life balance, but I still described myself as a teacher. All of a sudden, that was taken from me. We made packets for students to do at home and did online learning, but it wasn't the same. It felt like I was having an identity crisis. All the while, my role was changing constantly. Teaching online, in person, hybridly (not a word but it should be), having to keep preschoolers 6 feet apart and play alone; my whole understanding of early childhood was being challenged.

It took me a while but I realized that in order to survive not only teaching in the pandemic, but teaching in general, I have to separate who I am as a teacher and who I am as a person. Teaching is personal, there is no other way to do it. Each year you create relationships and bonds with your students, their parents, your coworkers, and some of those bonds are with you for life. However, at the end of the day, teaching is still just a job. A personal and often heart-breaking one, but it is still just a job. When I leave my classroom each day, I do my best to leave my teaching shoes at the door because when I come home, I have many other shoes I must wear. If I keep my teacher shoes on at all times, then how can I be the best wife, daughter, friend, or self?

That brings me to the point of this blog. Yes, I will be writing teaching posts, giving tips and ideas for the classroom. I want to help make your life in the classroom as easy as possible. But what I really want to share with you is how to survive teaching so you don't become burnt-out in every area of your life.

If you only read this post, never visit my page again, or simply scrolled to the bottom and did not read anything else, please read these words: you need to figure out how teaching fits into your life, not the other way around. Chances are, you will not succeed as a person or a teacher if you don't.