My fourteenth year of teaching began this week and it caught me by surprise. I ran through the numbers:

• Three years at my first school
• Three years in three different schools
• Four years in one school
• Beginning my fourth year at my current school

Somehow, I don’t feel quite old or experienced enough for all of that. But somewhere along the way, that’s indeed what happened.

I remember being a new teacher, staying late at school every night, settling myself into cafés to work on the weekends, balancing lesson planning with coursework for my Master’s. I remember a former colleague-turned-friend, the woman who hired me, asking me how she could help. I remember another colleague reminding me, when I mentioned nervousness and uncertainty, that the students didn’t know what I was feeling. I remember yet another colleague sitting down with me to go over lessons, make suggestions, and encourage me to try different things. I was mentored and supported and could not have been luckier for it.

By the time I began my third year of teaching, I could see the differences in myself and the first-year teacher who had started in my department. With a couple years of experience and my Master’s complete, I had time outside of school now, no longer staying much later than anyone else. I was excited rather than terrified at the prospect of preparing a new course, something I didn’t even realize until the new teacher pointed it out.

Now, I’ve designed new courses so many times that I don’t know what a school year looks like without it. It keeps things interesting, keeps me on my toes and trying different things. And now that the workload is normal rather than overwhelming, it’s also a lot of fun.

That’s how I know I’ve been doing this for a while. That’s how I can tell that I do know a thing or two, that my experience counts for rather a lot, and that my students and I really do learn from each other.

Here’s to year fourteen, to the newest course to develop, and to the young people I’ll be working with along the way. There’s no teaching without you.

Education should not be intended to make people comfortable; it is meant to make them think. – Hanna Holborn Gray