Today I began a new phase of my life.
My career as a teacher.
Oh sure, I know I’ve been working in my classroom for a little over a week now, but today was the first day I began earning money in my long-dreamed-about profession.
My only complaint, thus far, is the early hour in which I must now drag myself out of bed.
Ok…so being a mom should mean I am on autopilot at a moment’s notice, but when my children are in their teens now, so they do not wake up at o’Dark Thirty, allowing me to get in a few extra winks.
Not working during the summer and having children who either sleep in or get themselves off to work on their own also spoiled me.
Regardless, I got out of bed, showered and was ready by the time Rooster got up.
This is his second week of band camp…percussion camp to be more precise. He has to be at school by 8am, the the timing is perfect.
I dropped him off and went to my school.
Normal hours for teachers are 7-3; however, we are allowed to slide in at 8:00 during this first week of planning.
I am so glad that I worked hard in my room last week, because I felt like I had a “home” when I walked in this morning.
Plus, I already had a place to carry this…a gift from a friend…
This is the friend who put me in touch with my dentist’s wife who, in turn, interviewed me for the job I now have.
This is also the friend whose husband is fighting cancer.
So she, in her thoughtfulness and despite her husband’s intense cravings for Chinese food (he was off of the chemo last week and was finally hungry), got this chair for me, along with a bag of gifts…
What was inside the bag? Lots of goodies!!!
Computer “teacher” paper, a journal, a notepad, and a couple of sticky pads…essentials for any teacher!!
The day’s work started off with a two and a half hour faculty meeting. It was a good chance to meet almost all of the teachers. There are four of us who are new this year, so at least I feel more comfortable asking the “dumb” questions.
One good thing about the meeting?
Krispy Kreme Donuts!!
Oops…no picture. I kind of ate mine too fast to snap a photo.
After the meeting, I was free to do my thing, which meant packing up the rest of the books in the hallway outside of my room.
Thank goodness one of the teachers had taken his 15 year old nephew to school. I put him to work lugging the heavy boxes to the school’s attic. He looked exhausted when he finished.
Meanwhile, I got down to work.
I was interrupted a few times as other teachers stopped and admired my room. One teacher brought her son by. He will be a senior and, thus, one of my students. She explained that he likes to talk. A lot.
Uh huh.
I can already tell that he has a great personality.
He told me he has taken English 1101 and 1102 at the college, so when I asked what he did in those classes, he said, “A lot of writing. I hate writing.”
I told him he better get used to it, because that is what we are going to be doing a lot of.
He sighed and asked why.
My opinion? If you can write a good paper, you can get through almost any class.
So then he asked if we would also be reading.
Um, yeah. This class is sort-of called “English.” Of course, I did not actually say this out loud, and honestly, I did not think it, but it sounds good on the blog, you know.
What I did explain was that we will be reading and writing about what we read.
He sighed.
I chuckled.
Then I asked him what he wanted to do after high school.
He is planning on attending medical school.
Um, hello? That’s all you are going to be doing…reading and writing.
He told me we would talk about it next week.
I responded with, “I’ll talk, you’ll write.”
I have a feeling that I am going to enjoy being the teacher.
heehee
After they left, I got back to work…
Reading my new teacher resource books (thanks, Barb)…
Per Barb’s instructions (she was Teacher of the Year a few years ago), I started with Harry Wong’s book.
Oh my gosh! This is a FABULOUS book!!! It is so practical and a MUST read if you are in the education field.
I spent the rest of the day thinking…
Taking notes…
And thinking some more.
I told the principal not to worry if he saw smoke coming from my room. It would only be my brain cells in overdrive.
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