Five Years!

They handed out awards for years of service today at the high school on our last day of teacher in-services for the year. We applauded and gave a small token of appreciation to those teachers who have worked at the school for five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, and even thirty-five years!! I've only worked at the high school here for one year, so I wasn't included in the awards, but it made me want to reflect on my own service.

I have officially finished five years of teaching!

Year one - three: Middle school in Austin (2006 - 2008)

Highlights:

• Teaching 7th grade Math (Advanced and grade level)
• Coaching 7th grade volleyball, A and B team
• Coached soccer (2 years) and hurdles in track (1 year)
• Club volleyball for 12 year olds
• CDL certified to drive a school bus

Year four: Middle school in Austin (2009)

Highlights:

• Teaching 8th grade Math (Algebra and grade level)
• Coaching 8th grade volleyball team that won District Champions!
• Coached track and had some hurdlers place in district and break a school record
• Club volleyball for 14 year olds
• Re-certified to drive a school bus :-)
• Tested for my high school certification and got it!
• Travis proposed in my classroom at the end of the year :-)

Year five: High school in Del Rio (2010)

Highlights:

• First year of teaching Math in high school!
• Teaching Geometry Pre-AP and Math Models to over 150 students
• 68% of my students passed the TAKS test!
• Completed the last of my 150 hours of inservice training and renewed my teaching certificate for the next five years
• Started my Master's degree in Education

A lot of hard work, time, and effort have gone into these past five years of teaching. I am proud of my career and my service in teaching and look forward to more in the future!