One year down, 29 more to go

Tuesday will mark my one year anniversary in teaching. I cannot believe that I have already been teaching for a year. Well I do and I don't, I feel much more comfortable in front of a class and I don't stress out about teaching as much, but the year has gone by so fast. I look at student teachers and how worried and scared they look and I feel so much more experienced they them. Even though many of them are older than me, but this year had been a great learning experience for me. It is true, you never stop learning, especially as a teacher. You have to at least pretend that you know what you are talking about or your students will eat you alive. Today at lunch we some how were discussing when we all finished high school, I knew I was the youngest, but everyone was amazed that I am only 23 and was the class of '03. I take great pride that I started my career at 22, it is not an easy thing to do, well at least not for the people in my department. I'm hoping the first year of teaching is the hardest, so I can have that behind me. But I have heard that the second might be even harder, so lets just hope that is not from everyone. It is really scary to think that I have 29 years of work ahead of me, I don't even know what 29 years feels like, but I hope they are fun and I can continue to laugh at life, and my students.