They're Not Just Mine - Sharing it ALL

Today is day two of the school year. We have an amazing class and our first day was AWESOME. We. It means more than one. It's not just me teaching in my classroom now. It is us, our room, our class. It is amazing, scary, frustrating, and invigorating all at the same time.

I was given the most amazing opportunity this year. To share my classroom with another teacher, one who is also a friend. We will co-teach for the first 20 days and then we will split our time in the classroom with time out working with other third grade teachers in our district. So amazing. What an opportunity to learn from others as well as to share things I do in my classroom. I LOVE my partner, we are very lucky to be working together, but...this should be easy right? Well...not so much. I have learned some very interesting things about myself during the last three weeks (we took a lot of time to combine two classes and redo walls - pictures will follow soon). Some of the things are not so pleasant. I find that I am way more compulsive and obsessive about my bulletin boards than I would like. That I need to learn a very basic kindergarten skill - that of sharing. Finally, I have learned that this experience is not going to be as simple as I imagined. There will be growing pains, we will have to compromise more than we thought perhaps, and I will have to be more flexible in many respects. Though I think her points may vary from mine, I am sure she feels the same way as well (about me I mean).

I know this year will be amazing. I know that this is going to be a positive experience I will be am so grateful for this experience. Right now we are learning to navigate the waters of working together in this way and it is good. We are learning to grow and try new things just like we are always telling our students to do.

So here is to the start of an amazing school year! I will continue to share here on this blog but also on Spot on in Third. I can't wait to share it with you and I hope that you will comment and share your experiences too.

Have you ever job shared? How did you manage the melding of two classes?