I am about to step into a world of change. After years as a classroom teacher, I am moving into the role of learning support teacher and interventionist. Add to this that I’ll be in a new school with a new staff, and this fall (and likely whole year) can be expected to be an intense climb up the learning curve as I become familiar with the details of my new responsibilities, and the culture and politics of my new community.

A tangible difference leading up to the beginning of the school year has been this: an office instead of a classroom.

 

Standing in this room a couple of weeks ago, I felt a twinge of panic – what was I even supposed to do with this space? I’m used to setting up a classroom, labeling lockers and book bins and boot racks, putting up a welcome bulletin board. How would I set up this space to be functional? More so, would I know how to best help and support students in this room?

Those anxious feelings were a reminder that change makes one feel vulnerable. A quote I recently heard emphasized the value of that vulnerability:

Become a beginner again. We lose something wonderful when it becomes more important to us to be the one who knows than to be the one who is open to the every day wonders around us. (Dan Zandra)

And so on Monday I begin this new adventure. I am a beginner again, and through that vulnerability I will grow and learn, and I hope, appreciate all of the every day wonders around me.

Change is good.