I am currently in my 2nd year as a beginning teacher and am going to take some time to reflect on the biggest challenges and rewards so far.

Some of the biggest challenges I have found so far include;
Children not being able to read the label on my book boxes- As a BT I was all excited to set up my room and had lots of labels made and set up. Low and behold my children arrive and they couldn't read the pretty labels to find their books. I now have pictures everywhere and colour coded boxes. I quickly learnt that taking the time to make everything "pretty" may not be the best use of time, also do not assume anything!
The next big challenge I have found is managing my time and not feeling guilty about not doing work every night when I get home. This is one I am still working on but I have found that exercise is a great stress release (I find it is like hitting the reset button) and also it is impossible to work on my computer while exercising!

For me, my biggest reward is the children. More then just seeing these young ones learn so quickly, I really love developing relationships with my students. Despite how tired, stressed or in need of some personal space I feel at the end of each day, there is not a day that goes by that I do not share a laugh with my kids.