The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Friday, July 26, 2013

The First Day of the Rest of my Life

My first opportunity to come back into a school was as a permanent sub.  I walked in on the first day with no idea what I would be doing or what I was doing for that matter.  I was told to help out wherever I was needed as students began coming into the school.  After helping direct traffic including a few teary eyed first graders, I spent the rest of the morning sorting books and unpacking boxes.  It was about as unglamorous a start as most could imagine, and yet I began feeling like I was finally in the right place.

By the afternoon I was going from classroom to classroom delivering materials and asking anyone if they needed help.  It would have seemed to most to be a rather dull day, but to me, it was refreshing and exciting.  The school was a place where I felt like I had a purpose.  Even with the most menial of tasks and without really having a chance to work with children, I still felt valuable.  The bright atmosphere, excited young faces, and so much potential had captivated me instantly.  Over the years I would get to know some of the less bright parts of working in schools, but despite their emergence, that first day was one that I would never forget.  I knew just from being there on a day where I did so little, that working in schools was something I was meant to do.

Over the next three years I worked in many capacities while I attained my teaching certificate.  I grew up as a boy at that school, and over the next three years I began to grown as an educator.