It seems a bit funny to start a new blog with a post about the end of the year but oh well. Calendar years are a bit odd when you’re a teacher anyway, or so it always feels to me, since a school year always branches two years.

The 2022-2023 ended with a lot of unknowns for me. I knew what my position (ESL teacher) was for the upcoming (2023-2024) school year and I knew which building I would be at (one of the city’s 5-7 middle schools). It’s the same building I’ve been at for about 7 years now but it’s always nice to hear that I won’t be moved to a different building.

What I did not know was whether I would servicing students within a classroom (a “push-in” model) or in a small group (“pull-out”) setting. I didn’t know which of the three grades I would be servicing since it depended on whether an additional teacher was hired. I didn’t know which teachers I would be working with and I didn’t know during which subject(s) I would be servicing students.

The beginning of the 2023-2024 school year didn’t make things much clearer. My schedule changed about three times as my department head changed which subjects we would be working with (ELA to Social Studies) and the service delivery model (from pull-out to push-in). They did hire another teacher which also meant figuring out the grades and student distribution, which left me with half of 6th grade and all of 7th.

Heading into 2024, and ACCESS testing in January, all I can hope for is a smoother second half of the year. Happy New Year and Good Luck to everyone in the coming year!