That Time When....I Was Teacher of the Year?

 

I won teacher of the year at my campus.

I KNOW, huh??? 

I put in a lot of hours at work and I've said before that teaching is the hardest job I've ever had. I am profoundly grateful for the honor and must admit that I got a little teary when I thought about my life just prior to teaching.

 

I was a substitute teacher for two years and worked second jobs in order to make ends meet while I went and got certified to teach and looked for a teaching job. I had always fought against teaching even though my stepdad always advised me to get my teaching certificate as "something to fall back on" but I was adamant that teaching just wasn't for me. I had worked with students in truancy settings for about eight years so working with kids wasn't foreign to me but I just wasn't sure how well I would do with the same students on a daily basis. I knew it was a big commitment but once I started subbing I realized that teaching was something that I wanted to do so I began the process of finding an alternative certification teaching program.  

During this time my air conditioning had gone out in my car and I had zero dollars to fix it; I was working two jobs and still struggled every month so this was an expense that I couldn't afford to pay for. So I had NO air conditioning in my car. In the summer. In Texas. THEN I understood why they said that the crime rate went up in the summer, I would be soooooooo mad whenever I had to drive, especially if it was in the heat of the day. Talk about ANGRY! I would take my clothes to work and change when I got there because I would be so hot and sweaty by the time I arrived.

 

Whenever I would get down, or feel that I didn't know where to turn, things would always seem to work themselves out. I remember once just having myself a good old woe-is-me, life for me ain't been no crystal stair kinda cry and then went to check my mail and someone had sent me a $100 check. That $100 was like $1000 to me, because I literally had to account for every amount of money that I spent, there was no room for error. I was blogging then but I never shared my story because it just seemed so personal to me, to share that I wore so many thrifted items because I couldn't afford to shop anywhere else. (E'em though I had cute thrifted stuff but a sister still wanted to be able to go to the mall every now and then.)

 But now I realize that my situation was meant to share, that whole experience actually strengthened my faith in so many ways.

 

 

That experience was humbling, it was difficult, and it was also a testament to God's grace.

At one point I had packed up my things and made arrangements to move back with my mom for a while because I was so weary from the struggle. I desperately needed a break. A friend advised me to take ten minutes and pray about what I really wanted and I prayed that God would work things out for me and give me what I was asking for, which was a teaching job. Once I made the decision to stay I really felt a sense of peace. So I held on a few more months and when I had the interview at my school I instinctively knew that this was my school. And it was.  

 

 

A book that I carry in my bag on a daily basis is called Write It Down, Make It Happen, it is based on the Bible verse "Write the vision and make it plain." It is a book about goal setting and visualizing our goals and what you 'see' you can manifest. Before school began for me this year I made a list of personal and professional goals that I wanted to achieve and one of the things that I wrote down and didn't share with anyone was that I would be Teacher of the Year.

Glasses: Warby Parker

Shirt: Thrifted

Skirt: Etsy (I had to get this altered, it was waaaaayyy too big and long)

Shoes: Gianni Bini

Bag: Christmas gift from my sister

 

This has happened quite a bit since I have read the book, last year I wrote down that I wanted to visit New York again (and Philly, but that hasn't happened yet) and I won the People magazine contest and my trip to New York! I guess I need to write down more stuff about my love life (although some of the things that I've written have manifested as well, just not to my satisfaction.) So just like I tell my students, what you envision for yourself and work towards should be limitless, don't put parameters on anything that you desire to do. It is all possible. I wanted to share my story in the hope that it can possibly bless someone else....

 

"Choose your thoughts carefully, you are a masterpiece of your life."