My 10 years teaching in the public schools can best be described as a roller coaster of inspiration, innovation and disappointment.After college, I began working in a pilot year-round middle school program. We had smaller class sizes and a lot of freedom. We set our own schedule, made our own policies and took our students on team-building exercises in the mountains and celebrations of success at nearby attractions. Yes, there were challenges, but being able to use our own creative methods to address those led to a sense of professionalism and accomplishment.
The icing on the cake, not that this is my main measure of my success as a teacher, was that our test scores were higher than any other in the district.