So I gave my blog a look more appropriate for fall (Yay! Fall is almost here! No more heat and humidity and fleas!). In a lot of ways, this summer really flew by. A lot happened, too. It's hard for me to believe it's over and that it's time to start another school year. Starting school is pretty daunting; it's kind of like diving into the water and knowing I won't be getting out for ten months. Yes, I'll come up for air along the way, and hopefully I won't drown, but it's still the start of something big. And long.
We had inservice this week, and it went really well overall. It's so nice to be with all the teachers again. Of course I miss Linda and Kaitlin a lot. There's no one for me to debrief with after a really long and funny/boring/unexpected/heated/bizarre meeting, whatever the case may be. But that's ok; I can silently laugh to myself, and maybe it's even better that way, although it's definitely not as fun. Everyone was in good spirits this week, and it was exciting to have our first meetings together with our new Head of School leading us. I got to lead a session Friday morning about teaching reading. It was a lot of fun, and I really appreciated the chance to share about something I care a lot about. One of the teachers made a comment about how he doesn't usually get to see that side of me, when I'm teaching and doing my thing and having fun and being passionate about what I talk about. That's probably very true, since at faculty meetings or teacher Bible Study I can be pretty quiet, and plus I probably seemed stressed out most of the time after a long day of school. But I think the longer I'm there, the more people are getting to know me. My first year I was just trying to survive. My second year I started trying to speak up about things that I thought we needed to change, but I wasn't sure the best way to do it, and I was still pretty reserved. But now I'm starting to feel comfortable and to be honest and to have more fun with everyone. So that should help make this year more relaxing and enjoyable for me.
I believe I have a number of gifts and talents related to teaching, and people have been affirming those lately in me, which is definitely nice. But classroom set-up is not one of them. Ugh. I hate it. It takes me forever! I spend a lot of my time just being overwhelmed at how much there is to do. Then I do some small task that I can accomplish that's not even important and leave all the big stuff. So my classroom is still pretty much a mess. I'm reluctantly taking today off from going into school (although I might start some lesson planning) but will be there Monday and Tuesday all day, which will hopefully be enough time to be ready for Wednesday, the first day of school. I want to be really, really organized with all my stuff and with my plans, but I'm afraid I'll run out of time and have to throw some things together. But we'll see. I'll just go and bring lots of food and music and try to work as long as I can! I definitely appreciate having a car and being able to go in to work and leave whenever I want. Now I wonder how I ever survived without a car!
I'll probably post again after the first day of school. Maybe I'll have a sense of how my little kiddos are going to be. Hopefully calm and not prone to major tantrums. Wow. That would be amazing.
We had inservice this week, and it went really well overall. It's so nice to be with all the teachers again. Of course I miss Linda and Kaitlin a lot. There's no one for me to debrief with after a really long and funny/boring/unexpected/heated/bizarre meeting, whatever the case may be. But that's ok; I can silently laugh to myself, and maybe it's even better that way, although it's definitely not as fun. Everyone was in good spirits this week, and it was exciting to have our first meetings together with our new Head of School leading us. I got to lead a session Friday morning about teaching reading. It was a lot of fun, and I really appreciated the chance to share about something I care a lot about. One of the teachers made a comment about how he doesn't usually get to see that side of me, when I'm teaching and doing my thing and having fun and being passionate about what I talk about. That's probably very true, since at faculty meetings or teacher Bible Study I can be pretty quiet, and plus I probably seemed stressed out most of the time after a long day of school. But I think the longer I'm there, the more people are getting to know me. My first year I was just trying to survive. My second year I started trying to speak up about things that I thought we needed to change, but I wasn't sure the best way to do it, and I was still pretty reserved. But now I'm starting to feel comfortable and to be honest and to have more fun with everyone. So that should help make this year more relaxing and enjoyable for me.
I believe I have a number of gifts and talents related to teaching, and people have been affirming those lately in me, which is definitely nice. But classroom set-up is not one of them. Ugh. I hate it. It takes me forever! I spend a lot of my time just being overwhelmed at how much there is to do. Then I do some small task that I can accomplish that's not even important and leave all the big stuff. So my classroom is still pretty much a mess. I'm reluctantly taking today off from going into school (although I might start some lesson planning) but will be there Monday and Tuesday all day, which will hopefully be enough time to be ready for Wednesday, the first day of school. I want to be really, really organized with all my stuff and with my plans, but I'm afraid I'll run out of time and have to throw some things together. But we'll see. I'll just go and bring lots of food and music and try to work as long as I can! I definitely appreciate having a car and being able to go in to work and leave whenever I want. Now I wonder how I ever survived without a car!
I'll probably post again after the first day of school. Maybe I'll have a sense of how my little kiddos are going to be. Hopefully calm and not prone to major tantrums. Wow. That would be amazing.
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