My first year as an educator has followed a tumultuous pattern. Not only was I exploring who I was becoming as an educator, but I was also a full-time graduate school student. I attempted to collect student data through a variety of ways, including formal and informal assessments and listening to student anecdotes, which proved to be more difficult than anticipated. When I began writing this narrative, I had yet to step foot into a classroom and work with children. I had a different idea and perspective than I did after becoming a teacher of record. Throughout the year, my mental and physical health was altered multiple times. There were times when I let my own school work suffer in favor of my work with my students and vice versa. There were times when I fantasized about dropping out of graduate school and quit my job, and there were times when I thoroughly enjoyed working on my homework and going to work. This narrative is a reflection of those ups and downs and tracks the progress of myself and the students I have interacted with. What follows is a yearlong exploration of myself, my environment, and my students who have proven to be simultaneous sources of stress and comfort.
","abstract_html":"<p>My first year as an educator has followed a tumultuous pattern. Not only was I exploring who I was becoming as an educator, but I was also a full-time graduate school student. I attempted to collect student data through a variety of ways, including formal and informal assessments and listening to student anecdotes, which proved to be more difficult than anticipated. When I began writing this narrative, I had yet to step foot into a classroom and work with children. I had a different idea and perspective than I did after becoming a teacher of record. Throughout the year, my mental and physical health was altered multiple times. There were times when I let my own school work suffer in favor of my work with my students and vice versa. There were times when I fantasized about dropping out of graduate school and quit my job, and there were times when I thoroughly enjoyed working on my homework and going to work. This narrative is a reflection of those ups and downs and tracks the progress of myself and the students I have interacted with. What follows is a yearlong exploration of myself, my environment, and my students who have proven to be simultaneous sources of stress and comfort.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Crawford, Aria"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Education, MA","degree_level":"Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation","degree_discipline":"School of Educational Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Katherine Cooke","Caitlin King","Rebecca Peterson"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2019-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:39:50Z","subjects":["secondary education english literature"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/143","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Katherine Cooke","Caitlin King","Rebecca Peterson"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Crawford, Aria"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-07-19T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["School of Educational Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Education, MA"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["secondary education english literature"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/143"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["My first year as an educator has followed a tumultuous pattern. Not only was I exploring who I was becoming as an educator, but I was also a full-time graduate school student. I attempted to collect student data through a variety of ways, including formal and informal assessments and listening to student anecdotes, which proved to be more difficult than anticipated. When I began writing this narrative, I had yet to step foot into a classroom and work with children. I had a different idea and perspective than I did after becoming a teacher of record. Throughout the year, my mental and physical health was altered multiple times. There were times when I let my own school work suffer in favor of my work with my students and vice versa. There were times when I fantasized about dropping out of graduate school and quit my job, and there were times when I thoroughly enjoyed working on my homework and going to work. This narrative is a reflection of those ups and downs and tracks the progress of myself and the students I have interacted with. What follows is a yearlong exploration of myself, my environment, and my students who have proven to be simultaneous sources of stress and comfort.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Seemingly Downward Spiral of a First Year Teacher That Actually Turns Out Alright in the End: A Case Study"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Katherine Cooke","Caitlin King","Rebecca Peterson"],"dc:creator":["Crawford, Aria"],"dc:date.available":["2019-07-19T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["My first year as an educator has followed a tumultuous pattern. Not only was I exploring who I was becoming as an educator, but I was also a full-time graduate school student. I attempted to collect student data through a variety of ways, including formal and informal assessments and listening to student anecdotes, which proved to be more difficult than anticipated. When I began writing this narrative, I had yet to step foot into a classroom and work with children. I had a different idea and perspective than I did after becoming a teacher of record. Throughout the year, my mental and physical health was altered multiple times. There were times when I let my own school work suffer in favor of my work with my students and vice versa. There were times when I fantasized about dropping out of graduate school and quit my job, and there were times when I thoroughly enjoyed working on my homework and going to work. This narrative is a reflection of those ups and downs and tracks the progress of myself and the students I have interacted with. What follows is a yearlong exploration of myself, my environment, and my students who have proven to be simultaneous sources of stress and comfort.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/143"],"dc:subject":["secondary education english literature"],"dc:title":["The Seemingly Downward Spiral of a First Year Teacher That Actually Turns Out Alright in the End: A Case Study"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["School of Educational Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Education, MA"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:39:50Z"}