My first year of full-time teaching was one of the most formative years of my career.

"Difficult" would be an understatement used to describe my time serving as a classroom teacher in four different classrooms - 6th, 1st, 8th, 1st - in the absence of teachers on extended maternity leave.

But.

A word to describe what I learned while teaching and managing highly diverse classrooms, interacting with families and colleagues, and participating in hours of professional development - "immeasurable".

Perhaps the best things about this position was that I was able to interact with and learn from administrators and educators in three different Huntsville City Schools. From the teacher on maternity leave at Hampton Cove Middle School, I learned about HCS's math curriculum, Digits, which I used to teach standards-aligned lesson and monitor student progress for years afterwards. She also introduced me to Edmodo, which I used daily thereafter to communicate with HCS students and their families. In first grade at Blossomwood, Mrs. C and her team were extremely helpful as I gathered elementary resources. She introduced me to ScootPad, IXL, Reading Street and showed me how centers were implemented in her classroom. At McNair Jr. High, the principal and other administrators provided support as I managed behavioral situations like I never imagined. Teachers modeled how to love and discipline students without becoming emotionally involved to the point of destruction. When I returned to Blossomwood to teach in a separate first grade classroom, Mrs. Y shared awesome positive reinforcement systems that she already had in place ready for me to continue implementing. As the math teacher for 6th grade students at Hampton Cove Middle School, I got my first taste of teaching both honors and inclusion classes in a high-performing middle school. Each day I worked with about 120 students. When I transitioned to Blossomwood Elementary School, I taught all subjects to a contained 1st grade class. At McNair Jr. High School, I was once again responsible for 100+ students, but this time, 8th grade in a Title I school. When the principal at Blossomwood asked for me to return for yet another first grade maternity leave, I returned to the school where student diversity was rapidly increasing.