The beginning...

Hello and welcome!

So this is the first post to my blog Edumacate Me. I am creating this blog as a kind of online journal of my personal journey as a beginning teacher. I'm not only a beginning teacher but also a beginner at blogging so I hope you enjoy and get through this first post!

Firstly the title of my blog is just a bit of fun as I am a fan of Homer Simpson and his discourse on education. If you don't know Homer Simpson he says to his daughter Lisa "Can you edumacate me in the ways of the saxamophone?". 

Upon looking up the word "edumacate" through my good friend Google I found one of Urban dictionaries definitions to be thought provoking:

3. Edumacate; An uneducated way people, including Redneck's, Hill-Billy's and Feral people use in place of the word Education to sound smarter than they may be. 

My golly.
It's this blatant categorization of people that motivates me to teach future generations that this is exactly the type of thing that happens in our society that needs to be eradicated. I understand that it's a natural part of human nature to want to categorize things for example food, colours, animals etc. I don't argue that some of these things need categorization, but to do this with people in our society, creates inequity and this means that not everyone gets the chances each and every person deserves! 
Let me give an example of catergorizing 
"Oh Harry comes from an uneducated family he won't know how to spell". UGH. No matter what your background or context you come from you are important and you can do anything if you believe in yourself!

I am about to embark on my journey as a beginning teacher in a challenging category 2 school in the Northern suburbs of Adelaide (category 2 according to the DECD Index of Educational Disadvantage 2014;category 1 being the most disadvantaged). Many of the students I am about to encounter could be classified by some as coming from "feral" families. Not in my eyes. I cannot wait to give them the opportunity to realize their full potentials, hope, dream and most of all learn.

I accepted the job 2 days ago and my reactions went in this order:

Excited (In my wildest dreams I never expected to get a teaching job first year out from uni)

Huggy (I hugged the deputy principal when she told me...don't worry I asked if I could hug her first)

Carefree (At the time of finding out about my new job I was relief teaching in the special unit of the school and they were the most challenging bunch of students in regards to behaviour e.g. when I greeted them in the morning "Hello, I'm Miss. Osborne your relief teacher today" to which I received a "Nuh, get f***ed we're not having YOU!" from 2 students who proceeded to walk away. However I didn't let this effect me and I greeted them warmly again once leadership encouraged the students to attend class. I ended up forming a really good bond with one of the boys and by the end of the day he hi-fived me before getting into his taxi to go home.)

Screamy (is that a word? I'm a teacher ha. I screamed with happiness...don't worry I waited until I was in my car)

Daunted (Hello reality and responsibility...Pinterest is officially my new best friend)

So here we are at the beginning of my teaching journey. I will blog about my triumphs, my failures, great resources I find and use and anything and everything I think is relevant to my teaching journey. 
The first couple of posts will most likely be to do with organizing myself for the school term and setting up my classroom (OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO HAVE A CLASSROOM). Please feel free to leave me comments and feedback on my posts I'd love to hear from you!

My name is Kirsten Osborne and I am a beginning teacher of a year 1 class in South Australia. 
Bring. It. On!

:)