I Was A Failed School Teacher: Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Meeting The Team

I was set to teach for the Aurora Public Schools, one of the largest school districts in the state of Colorado. District policy required that we start preparing for the beginning of the school year one week before the students arrived. So, on July 27, 2009, a very warm Tuesday morning, I awoke from sleep, my heart thumping inside of my chest. The anxiety that I’d been wrestling with in summer was ratcheting upward with the passage of each successive minute.

So, with that, I pushed myself from the bed, yawned, stretched, and shook my body, willing the nerves to fall from me like crumbs. Stretching seemed to help somewhat, but I needed some more self-therapy. Pressing my two palms together, I closed my eyes tight, and said a silent prayer, asking the omnipresent being how to calm my nerves. The answer: engage in some of the work required of a teacher, act in my new role. I needed to drive to that school, walk to my classroom, open the door, and start doing my job by creating my wall, building my library, and meeting my colleagues. Being a teacher. And if anyone was struggling with seeing me in this role, they were going to be dispelled of that notion.

I was one of the first ones to arrive at the school, eager to begin my new journey. Crawford Elementary School was located a few blocks north of the…