Do You Bloom Where You Are Planted?

This particular post is one that I have struggled with for some time.  I wonder if it’s counterproductive to ask questions that I may already know the answer to, but in this case, it may be okay.  I was listening to my hair dresser talk about relationships and how it is necessary to water them in order to see growth.  Now, I have heard this before, but it was something about the way that he presented it that made me think about the relationship that I have with my career. 

Blooming where you are planted is an important part of any educational journey because your plan may not always be the direction that your career will take.  For instance, when I began my educational career with my current district, I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher.  It seemed like the place that I would call home.  Eventually, as I began to grow in the position, I was asked to consider moving to third grade.  I wasn’t initially excited about it because I wanted to chart my own path.  However, after transferring to another school, I was told that there were not any kindergarten positions left, and I was offered a 1^st grade position.  I thought, “why not”!  This move changed my views on many things.  I realized that as a kindergarten teacher, I needed to teach 100 times harder in order to have the students sufficiently prepared for first grade.  I taught first grade for 4 years, realizing that it is by far the most difficult grade to teach, but the most rewarding.  Blooming where you are planted can be challenging, but most effective when you make an effort to do it!

A few years later, I was called into the office and told that I was being moved to second grade.  We were changing our curriculum and our reading series, so I was a bit excited about my new move.  I didn’t think anything could top kindergarten and first grade, but I was certainly wrong.  Second grade became my newest love. 

Each move that I had within grades was one that I didn’t initiate, but enjoyed nonetheless.  I am left to wonder if I had moved to third grade 9 years ago, how different my perspective would be.  I look at this time and these experiences and really ask myself if it’s just easier to “bloom where you are planted” and enjoy the process. I am reminding myself that in education there is usually a silver lining and if I look for it, I will certainly find it.