The past week

Schoooooool is back. in. session.... I returned to my classroom on Wednesday the 18th. I'm not exactly sure what all I accomplished that day except maybe catch up with folks and look at all the mess I left myself last June.

Thursday, I may have been slightly more productive. I believe I recycled a ton of papers... and... uh... OH! I moved my desk. I now have my own "space" in which children cannot intrude!

Friday was our first required workday which meant I got to sit in the media center ALL day. Fun times... We covered all the usual beginning of the year stuff and met our 13 *new* staff members. We had some teachers retire over the summer. Our median staff age has been around 40? Our new staff has lowered that by about 10 years. They even make me feel old! Haha?

The weekend proved to be uneventful. Monday I spent MORE time in meetings and no time in my room. Oh well...

Tuesday! Finally! A day in my room! Unfortunately I had to take Dizzy to the vet, because he had a case of what we call "the gallop and splatters". I'll leave out the details, but in the end (no pun intended) he was fine. I had to leave school to pick him up by 4pm, and he got to come back to school with me so I could finish getting ready for the arrival of students. It worked out that Matthew was able to come pick him up. :)

My schedule:

I have a Senior homeroom which means I will have TONS of paperwork for them to sign. It also means I will have to stay on them to make sure they get it turned in on time. My job is to make sure they graduate, so I WILL be keeping up with their grades and absences.

1st Period: Orchestra!

2nd Period: Chorus of 7 students - Not only will we sing, but they are going to learn how to play piano!

L U N C H ! ! !

3rd Period: Orchestra with a lot of freshmen and 7 A/B Day students (they switch between an AP class and my class all year)

4th Period: PLANNING!!!! So far, I am loving it! I am NOT a morning person, therefore I don't tend to get much done if I have planning 1st.

So far my day is over before I realize it! I am doing a better job with planning this year (one of my goals). I am really looking forward to this semester. Every semester is new and different in my curricula. I don't have to teach the same thing, 3 times a day, twice a year. Year 5 (at West, 6th overall) definitely feels better and less like I'm on probation. At the end of the semester, I will need to come back and read this post to see if or how my feelings have changed. :)