The part of teacher evolution I'm thinking about today, as I prepare to walk in to my first set of P/T conferences, is spatial ownership.
There's this space that I occupy at my school every day. Its number is assigned to me. All of the students who share the space during the day are assigned to me.
About six weeks ago, I blindly, frantically shaped this space in to a "classroom." In the time since then I've added to and taken from the space, both physically and emotionally.
Today, I feel like I belong in this space.
Today, I feel some ownership.
Today, this space is mine.
It's not a conquest, and it's not a hostile takeover.
It's an evolution. It's the propagation of helpful adaptations, and the annulment of old ways. It's the creation of a new being, in a new habitat.
I am evolving. One way I know this to be true is the way that my new home is starting to look, smell, feel, and live to me. I'm learning the ecosystem: both the local and the regional. I'm caring for it, and it is caring for me.
In addition, today I figured out a conversation that has been happening around me, but of which I was not a part. I figured out feelings and responses from my teammates about having three brand new teachers on a team of 12.
This was important not because of the knowledge it imparted (ok, that too), but because of the familiarity of that discovery. Gauging and understanding subtext and unspoken norms are things I'm good at. It was nice to feel that familiar warmth of understanding; nice to put knowledge in my pocket.
They say I'll slip back down this mountain more than once before next August.
So let it be written.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDaOgu2CQtI
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