First off, my bad for not doing this on time. It was typed up ready to go on Friday but within the 20 minutes it took for me to leave school, where I wrote this, and get home, where the internet was working, every task I had planned for myself mysteriously vanished from my memory.

At any rate, I believe that I fit in the "moderate competence to variable commitment" category. While I do realize that this is only my first year (week!) as a real teacher and that I have much to learn, I do think I have a general idea of what it means to truly be an educator and what characterisitcs are desirable in a teacher. I think so far I am doing a decent job of trying to live up to those expectations. I know there is TONS that I don't know yet. But I am comfortable with my current state and confident that the skills I need to work on will develop as the year progresses.

My commitment is also in the middle of the spectrum. There are crew leaders (ahem..) who stay at school to plan until after 8:00 PM after a full day with their kids. I praise you, I respect you, but I could never, ever do it. I'd lose my mind. By the end of the day I'm mentally and physically tired. I am hoping that I figure out how to sustain my energy for longer periods of time. I am 110 percent (sorry the actual percent sign apparently does not work on this keyboard...) committed to my kids, knowing that unless I take care of myself I am doing them an injustice by not being myself.

I need support, guidance, and encouragement. A lot of times I am completely lost; I've lost the deer in headlights look but trust me, the feelings behind it are still there. What is a project proposal supposed to look like? What if my kids can't get shadow days? Why did I ever think I could seriously teach math? I can work well under pressure, but like most people, I work best in an environment where I feel safe (which I do here, for the most part) so Al, keep doing what you are doing, and I promise that I will be on time with this blog from now on!