The Obligatory Post
31-Aug-07
Well, lots of other teachers have done their “First Day Back” so I guess it’s time to do mine! I reported to my school yesterday expecting the worst, because our building is being rehabbed (new windows! yay! central air! yay! new roof! yay!) and I’d heard it was a big mess. Nope, still the same as ever, with only a few classrooms that were being worked and the building completely wrapped in scaffolding and netting.
Amid cries of joyous reunion, I made my way upstairs to the main office, pulled a bunch of stuff out of my mailbox including a free copy of The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas by Robert Frank, then hopped on the elevator to the English Office, which was jammed packed with all my departmental favorites. Yay! I picked up my program (what, you thought I’d been planning all summer and I’d be ready to go come September 4th? Hogwash!) I am pleased to report that I am utterly satisfied with my schedule this year.
One, I am on a later schedule which is great. Since I live so far from my school now, being on the early schedule meant that I was keeping farmer’s hours. On this new schedule, I get to sleep in another hour or so.
Two, no freshmen for the first time in 6 years! I will miss them a little but not too much, because I’ve an AP class, two sections of juniors and one section of sophomores to keep me occupied. (I know, you’re counting and going, “Hey! Where’s the fifth class?!” More on that later.) I haven’t taught sophomores since my first year of teaching, so it’ll be a bit of work to figure out my plan for them.
Three, I have lots of breaks! No teaching three periods in a row, phew.
Four, I have most of my classes in one room, which is sweet. My AP class is in a room that the other AP English teacher is in, so that all works out just dandy!
Five, I’m only teaching 4 classes. Sort of. A bunch of students were removed from the regular day program and placed in the night program because they were severely behind and need to catch up. This meant that I lost a class, so instead of teaching that period, I’ll be doing…
DUM DA DUM DUM….
Professional Development! For other teachers! This excites me to no end, even though I know there is a possibility that my missing class will return to me. (I think I might also use that period as “Open Office Hours” for my students, since no one is scheduled for my room then, I’m pretty sure!)
We were all looking forward to spending today in the auditorium or something but instead, we are going to Bear Mountain on a team-building retreat. Someone out there heard me! It’s raining a bit but I think it’ll be fun. We have a bunch of workshoppy things in the morning, then softball in the afternoon. Fun! We all got different colored t-shirts, designed by our APO and are actually pretty nifty (though I had a little accident with mine, so I have to see if I can score another…) I’m looking forward to getting some fresh air. Really, I have a lot of planning to do but I’m not too worried. I worked out the first week pretty much (in my nifty new daybook).
I’m off.
