Day 1-1

The first day for teachers always seems like such a waste of time to me (in my whole two times of attending them). We move back and forth between meetings all morning, then we break for lunch, then we have about an hour and a half of the school day to fix our classrooms, get textbooks, and do anything else we may need to do before kids start coming in tomorrow. Oh, but we don't get our class lists. No, that would be way too complicated to get that to teachers before the first day of classes.

Anyways, I managed to just barely get enough textbooks for the estimated number of kids in my classes (per my director) and set up my desks in a much better fashion than I did last year. I realized that the long table that I kept supplies on (paper, markers, etc) that was at the side of my room by the windows was taking up a whole lot of useful space. So instead, I set up my desks over in that aisle and actually brought the desks closer to the white board as to eliminate some of the "I can't see the board" complaints. With the extra space in the back, I was able to put the table there which will hold the overhead (although I also have an overhead cart that I usually use to hold my materials (plans, etc) and place the tv next to the table (which was previously in a corner in the front of the room - very distracting). My desk was, for some reason or the other, moved further away from the wall on the other side of the room, which turned out to be a good thing as it gives me more space to move around behind it (whenever I get the chance to sit there!). Overall, I'm satisfied with the current setup. Not, however, satisfied w/ the filth that is built up on the desks. So gross. I can't believe that's the condition the summer school teacher left my room in. Ugh!

We have three new people in the foreign language department (I was one of three newbies last year) - two Spanish teachers and one French teacher. One of the Spanish teachers was actually an ELL teacher in the school for the past few years, but now she's completely in the Spanish department. Fun. The other Spanish teacher hasn't been officially hired yet though she attended the entire day today. I didn't get a chance to really talk to her though other than she used to teach Spanish in Maine (she drives an hour and a half to work everyday now!) for six years, so at least she has some experience, so that's good. The French teacher I got along very well with. She apparently taught long ago but for the past few years she has been working in textbook publishing (actually for the company that we get our textbooks from) and she seems really nice. Our department should be good this year (although I think last year's department was the best ever). I'll see how it goes from here.

I'm already exhausted though. My freshmen come in tomorrow, and I have no idea what I'm going to do yet. I find it pointless to do anything other than introduce ourselves because my classes are 9-12, unlike many of the core classes in the school. So I could potentially have one or two freshmen in each class or a class full of freshmen. Seeing as though I can't get my class list, I have no clue what grade my kiddos are in. On top of that, periods are only 20 mins long tomorrow (preceeded by an assembly and a LONG homeroom). I do have a freshmen homeroom, so I'll be in there with them for about an hour and a half (ridiculous really). At least this year I'll be able to tell them more about the school, unlike last year where I too was brand new. I'm still trying to remain positive, though, and not get stressed out too early. Everything will happen as it is supposed to, and there's no amount of preparation that will change that.