So far, so good!

So far the year’s off to a great start ~ although I was sickened to hear about the high school shooting. I’ve spent a fair amount of time teaching procedures & guidelines this year (I feel like a Harry Wong drone), but I haven’t even mentioned our lockdown procedure. The recent shooting was a wake-up call ... I don't know why I thought lockdown was any less important than a fire drill. Our admins haven't even really mentioned it either. I have a feeling kids would be more responsive & orderly during lockdown, b/c they'd probably be scared. They don't take fire drills seriously, even though last year we did have a real fire. Anyhoo...

I was leaving school today & noticed a helpless 6^th grader who was looking rather distraught outside. He’d been waiting nearly 2 hours for his ride, and was obviously upset. Poor kid didn’t know he could’ve gone inside to make a phone call, so my coworker & I escorted him inside to the office (now locked, of course), tracked down an adult for him, and waited until his ride showed up. He was holding it all in, trying to be so brave, until he got inside, and then the tears flowed. Poor little guy. I’m so used to 8^th graders who are too cool for school.

Speaking of 8^th graders, this year our kids are so different. Or maybe I’m different? I’ve only dealt with one real attitude problem so far. The only major problem (other than Attitude Girl) has been talking ~ I can handle that … at least I think I can. We changed Attitude Girl’s schedule, and then she moaned about being in my 4^th period, “Man, this class be dead!” I couldn’t help but laugh. I’m not really used to the diligent students who work without talking either. They’re great, though. They keep me laughing, which is a must in this job.

Somehow I feel like I must be in some sort of honeymoon phase. I think I’ve had more donations from our Wish List this year than I did the entire year last year! I’m sure we’ll have our fair share of girl fights, unruly kids, and defiant attitudes, but for now, I’m enjoying the captive audiences ~ 4 times a day, even!

Explanation, please?

It's 2:40, the day before the 1st day of school, and I still don't have a class roster. I've no idea how to assign seats, check attendance, or call on students without their names. I can improvise & manage well enough ~ there are matters within my control (such as, what will I teach tomorrow) that demand my attention.

Still, I'm left wondering, curiously . . . what the heck did the office & administraton do all summer? Didn't they have a good 6 weeks to split kids into teams, assign classes, and print schedules? Is our school used as a hospital or gymnasium or roach hotel during the summer?

Grrrrrrrrrrr. On a happier note, 65 parents showed up for Open House last night. This means ~65% of our parents care enough to meet the teachers . . . I'm taking that as a good sign.

The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

The Good:

Returning to school feels like a happy reunion, in a way. I guess I spent more waking hours in that building than anywhere else for 9 months of my life, so it’s easy to believe that my team & other coworkers became like an extended family. I remember feeling totally clueless this time last year, not knowing even where to begin, but feeling like decorating my room was the most important task. This year, school gossip (as in, who’s still here, who’s new, etc.) takes priority, and if my room isn’t ready by Open House, I’m not all that concerned. Funny how things change.

The Bad:

Apparently our schedule has been revised this year, to accommodate a state policy that requires 15 minutes of physical activity each day for students. No one is sure what this means, whether we’re to lead them in 15 minutes of jumping jacks, freeze tag, jogging in place. Very curious. Does this mean I now need to be Highly Qualified in PE as well as science? No clue.

We were forced to sit through an entire day’s worth of largely useless workshops. The main speaker droned on for 3 hours. Sadly, he spent only 3 minutes developing his last point, which was his only bit of practical advice, and I actually thought it might prove to be quite meaningful, but he rushed through it so quickly that I didn’t quite understand the implications or how to carry it out. Even more frustrating, nothing in our 4 sets of handouts addresses this last point. Oh well. The afternoon session was an exact repeat of our required science Professional Development last January ~ they even provided us the exact 50+ page handout, accompanied this time by a CD version as well. In essence, a complete waste of time.

The Ugly:

Coworker called today during 5 o’clock news to inform me that a local high school (directly across the street from my middle school!) tested positive for lead poisoning. Great. While this will provide an excellent local news article for my Water Quality unit, I’m not sure how I’m meant to hydrate my athletes after cross country practice.

Her other news was that our former student was on the news tonight ~ charged with 1^st degree murder. Apparently she lured a man to a group of people who ambushed the guy & killed him. I guess this happens all the time to teachers, but I thought I’d have another 5 years before I started reading about my beloved “thugs” and their consequences. My students are 12 & 13 years old … kids. They should be riding their bikes & winning dance trophies & playing video games, not sitting in jail awaiting a murder trial!!!

Nevertheless, I am choosing to be positive this year. This must be why they give us summers to recuperate. If I had to face disappointments & placate the bureaucracy for 12 months straight, I’m quite certain I’d quickly lose my desire to teach. Instead, each year I get a fresh start with a new group of kids, and I’m quite eager to assess how this year goes. I think one new goal for this year is to avoid toxic conversations. It’s so easy to get caught up in negativity, and it’s so suffocating. I’m sure I’ll need to vent at some point, and I’ll choose my audience wisely, but I don’t want to get sucked into the downward spiral of discontentedness that seems to surround so many experienced teachers.

In fact, I don’t even want to talk about my class list with 7^th grade teachers; I remember one who came into my room last year & saw my students’ names on desks & proceeded to give me her evaluation of every kid she’d taught. I know she meant well, but these kids deserve a clean slate and a new chance. People change. Kids mature. I want to spend more time investing in them this year, instead of focusing so much on my own personal survival. I have high hopes for this year, even if today wasn’t the greatest back-to-school party.

Successful trial run!

I'm happy to say that I was awake, cognizant, and fully dressed by 7 am this morning. I still need to shave another hour from that by next week, but I'm hopeful that it won't be such a shock to my system. I'm leaving for a wedding today (4th one this summer!), so I was forced to abandon the usual routine of sleeping in until 7:30 or (dare I say it) 8.

I'm having mixed feelings about going back to school. I do feel rested, I do have new ideas for how to start the year, and I would like to meet my new students. I'm even halfway excited about coaching, even though I have no clue what I'm doing and the Athletic Director won't answer my emails with questions. (She probably regrets giving me the job now - ha!)

There's the other half of me, though, that remembers all too well the school-consumed days, crawling out of bed in a stupor, getting ready while the rest of the world sleeps, and trying to force myself to eat at 5:30 am so that I won't pass out in 1st period. And then the whirlwind days of keeping my head above water, only to drown in more work at night. Ugh. I'm hopeful that this year won't be quite as overwhelming, and that I'll be able to blow off school completely once or twice a week and have some semblance of a life again.

Everyone says the 2nd year is better, and they all said the 1st year was awful, so hopefully they're right again. I keep telling myself I'll have new kids, new parents, and a year of experience behind me. I have plenty of strategies for doing things a little differently this year, I just don't want to end up doing the wrong thing again twice in a row.

Another thing that bothers me is my principal's advice during my end of the year conference. She told me to focus heavily on the first 10 days of school and not to do anything interactive during those 10 days. I totally agree with setting the standards firm & early, but she cannot be serious about abandoning hands-on inquiry-based science for 10 whole days. I don't know how to teach if I can't give them activities & allow them to explore & discover. I think last year I would have followed her advice to the letter ... I feel a little more confident now in taking what I want & leaving the rest to her personal opinion. I think her general point is to be more structured early in the year in order to set the expectations & know your classroom a little better, and I'll definitely be more careful & intentional in those. But 10 days of no hands-on science ... how absolutely dull. I think I'd go mad, and I can't imagine the kids enjoying it. She's a former language arts teacher, so maybe that has something to do with it... who knows.

At any rate, I'll enjoy my last school-free weekend as much as I can! Thankfully, I'll never ever have a 1st year of teaching again, that's for sure.

Excuse me?

I received an email today addressed to "Fall Coaches," from the Athletic Director. She proceeds to inform us of mandatory coaches meetings, dates of student physicals, and all other sorts of coaching-related information. I almost deleted it until I realized my coworker/team mate's name among the recipients.

Then it "hit" me. I remember, waaaaaaaaaay back in June, expressing interest in coaching cross country this year. My stipulations were 1) I only wanted to coach if my coworker could coach with me (since neither of us have ever coached anything in our lives) and 2) I refuse to drive an activity bus. I never heard back from Miss Athletic Director. I assumed she wasn't interested in my lack of abilities or wimpy attitude about operating large vehicles. No big deal.

And now this email. I called my coworker & interrupted her New England vacation to dissect the news. She's generally the calm one, and would remain level-headed. Unfortunately, she matched my response with unprecedented shock & disbelief.

Apparently, expressing mild interest is synonymous with being signed up for the job. I don't mind doing it; cross country is a fall sport with a short season & no one really cares about team performance. But it would have been nice to know this a little earlier. I would have read books this summer on coaching, or planned a few semi-reasonable workouts. Yikes!

I guess my own "learn by doing" teaching philosophy is coming back to haunt me. The more frightening thing is, I've "expressed interest" in a number of extracurricular activities for next year, and if this scenario is typical of the way things happen at my school . . . I'm in trouble.

I think I'll deal with this later. I have exactly 2 weeks of summer vacation left, and plan to remain blissfully ignorant of any school-related responsibilities until absolutely necessary.