On Being "Ms. D"

I'm going to write a book one day, so I thought it would be a good idea to have some notes.

Probably it will be about being a teacher, or becoming a teacher, and what it's like to be a New York City Teaching Fellow, because that is currently my area of expertise. But partially I think it will also be about my other area of expertise, which is being in your twenties in the 2000's and 2010's. Topics to be covered include: mistakes, misgivings, misery, mystery, misfortune, misconduct, misadventures, mischief, misunderstandings and misdeeds (all words that I was trying, without success, to incorporate into a clever pun on "Ms. D" for the title of this blog) And, along with all those other m words, there will also be chapters on miracles and mirth.

If you're interested in some background information on my first traumatic year of teaching, let me know, and I can link you to my back-then blog.

But it's different now, because I'm now a slightly lighter shade of green - a seasoned, wizened, wiser, stronger un-brand-new teacher with a vast 2.1 years of experience to draw from! My heart is hard, my name is known (if not pronounced) by at least 50% of P.S. OO's army-sized staff, and I can rattle off acronyms and teaching jargon like it's my job (because, in fact, it is my job...) IEP! RTI! AIS! ELA! SES! WTF! I know about scaffolding, modeling, coaching in, individualizing, differentiating, discharging, encoding, decoding, coding Read Alouds, analyzing data to drive my instruction... see? I'm the real deal! And in 6 month's time, I might even have a license...

Plus I have my secret weapons, the aces up my sleeve, my protective raincoat against the scattered acid rainstorms of working life: a group of friends at work that I trust, rely on, lean on, and value above all else in my working world.

Yes, friends, according the Magic 8 Ball of New Years Resolutions and new leases on life, outlook is favorable. From where I'm standing everything is possible and all will be well.

Which is an interesting contrast to where I was standing a week and half ago, which was in the twisted wreckage of a grossly overextended life. Like most Teaching Fellows I know, I spent the autumn hurtling towards a brick wall of exhaustion, accalerated by workaholism, graduate school, and an inability to say no to things. By the time Christmas rolled around I was an empty shell, a walking, talking, teaching zombie.

But the good news is, you bounce back.

That is the beauty and the necessity and the miracle of vacation rejuvenation - my cup has been refilled, my chakras aligned, I am (almost) ready to face it all again. It's always a wierd transition from vacation life back into working life -- spending time with friends and family reminds me of who I was before I became Ms. D.

But my "Ms. D" alter-ego is always at the ready, kind of like Bruce Wayne's capes and masks and utility belts, all lined up in a closet somewhere in the Batcave. When Monday morning rolls around my alarm will go off, the bat-signal will be lit, and ready or not, I will don my teaching cape and transmogrify back into "Ms. D."