I don't really know what to write--the past two weeks have been busy, but good. So this will be short. I just started my third year of teaching, and I have discovered for myself that things really DO get easier. I now have a "toolbox" of past lessons from which to draw, and I have an added confidence and strength that comes from experience.
I guess I could compare teaching to a balancing act. At first, before you've had much experience, you're exerting all of your effort in order to not fall. You're trying to simply survive. But once you start to figure it out, once you become comfortable with the balancing and develop the appropriate muscles, teaching becomes an entirely different experience. Though it is still tiring and still requires great strength, it becomes almost . . . dare I say it . . . fun. Exhilarating at times. Exhausting at others. Endurable and rewarding on a daily basis. And yet, sometimes it would be nice to just worry about my own education (as when I was taking classes, not teaching them) rather than having to worry about so many other peoples' education. It's definitely been a growing, stretching, uncomfortable experience to be on the giving (or teaching) end of education after being on the receiving end for 19 years.
