O'er the ridge, the sun is 'bout to rise...

Or is it about to set?

This summer has gone by so fast.  As I sit here and think about how nervous I was in May about this whole adventure, I'm proud of myself for how far I've come.  However, I'm not any less nervous.  One week from today I will report to Chastain Middle School as a first year teacher, and its on.  No more MTC summer school.  No more daily evaluations and feedback.  No more role-plays.  It'll be real.

I feel like I'm pretty well prepared for whats ahead.  My biggest concern is managing a larger, worse behaved class than I had this summer.  I know that'll be a challenge and a source of great frustration for me.  I'm pretty comfortable with the content and lessons, as I'll be teaching the same thing I taught this summer, so I have a little bit of a head start.  I'm really excited to move down to Jackson.  I feel like there is a really good group of first and second years down there and we'll be living really close together.  More than anybody else, we in Jackson still have an MTC support group that is available in minutes.  I'm also looking forward to moving to a little bit larger city (although I really like Oxford) and my house.  This will be my first real living on my own experience, and I'm excited about it.  I really like the house, too.

So, with my focus on my excitement, today I pack up and move to Jackson.  This week will be hectic getting the house set up and trying to knock out some lesson planning and going to the district office and my school and maybe even having a little fun.  I'm nervous now, but I think once I get down there its going to get really intense come the first of August.  I've asked a lot of questions about the worst case scenarios, so I have a sense of dread about them coming, but I think I can make it through now that I know what to look for and have support just down the street or at my school to vent to and get advice from.  Despite all of that, I still think that this is going to be a great, amazing experience and I'm going to learn a LOT.

They say it gets worse before it gets better.  I'll be ok.  The night is darkest before the dawn.  I've got flashlights.