Yup. Next Monday is when school starts. Nervous yet? No. I don't have time to be nervous. That's for teachers who have passed their first year and don't have to take pointless hours of training.
I got my windshield fixed today. My poor friend had to run me around town, but I no longer have a 15 inch crack threatening to disrupt my driving. When I got the car back, I got in and started it, thinking "something's wrong." Somehow I felt both taller and smaller at the same time. I didn't figure it out for several minutes; then it came to me. My new windshield has a sun visor--you know, the blue strip at the top. It's a pretty blue. I didn't have that before. It has totally changed my perspective. I feel invisible, even though the strip only covers the hair at the very top of my head. Very cool.
Anonymous ISD had convocation today. It was unexpectedly good. Superintendant Joe made the exact same speech with the exact same power point that he made last week to the new folks, and the only thing that kept me awake was the fact that the poor girl next to me had to go to the ladies' room really badly. Then the speaker got up. She was a slim, tall, elderly lady dressed in an elegant shell-colored, completely feminine suit. Looking at her, we thought: She's cute, but this is going to be the most boring convocation ever. So not true. She was hilarious. We kept waiting for her to get serious, but it never happened! Story after story of humor. She had some good pointers hidden in among the hilarity, but if every day of training was like this, I would sit on my numb bum for hours without complaint. She informed us that we need to have some reminder of humor, or something that alleviates our day set right in front of us. Her example was a cheerleader Barbie (I kid you not). It kicked and twirled and raised its arms and cheered on Superintendant Joe.
Last week we were informed that Tuesday (tomorrow) would be our day to work in the classroom. For a while, I was told that I'd actually have Tejas Lee training that day because it was the only day with available time. I was okay with that--it's not the guys' fault that they loaded up the new teachers' schedules with tons of training that we aren't even using right now. Then that was cancelled, so I again thought I'd actually have a day where I could work in my classroom and actually get some work done that needed to be done. Wrong! At the end of the day, my principal "reminded" me (how can I be "reminded" when I didn't know in the first place?) that we have media training tomorrow. It should only be half day, but it ruins my plans completely. This is not just Anonymous ISD's fault. This is the school system. We're expected to have everything ready for parents to come Friday night, plus have all our lesson plans turned in on Friday, but when in sam hill did we have time to do all that? Another new teacher and I joke that we're going to have a pajama party and just spend the night at the school to get things done because the couple of hours we get on a daily basis aren't enough. Besides that fact, I had been planning on going to Medium Town, TX tomorrow to get some supplies that just can't be found in Small Town, TX. Medium Town is a little over half an hour away. I had been hoping to leave at 8:00am and get back by 10:00am so that I could work the majority of the day in my classroom. Nope. I have to be in training (again--it's not stuff we're using right away; it's not absolutely necessary right now; plus, it's overwhelming our brains so that the panic mode is beginning to set in, and we don't have the time to deal with the pressure much less get the things we need to done) until 11:30-12:00ish. Grrr... It is rare that I become inarticulate, but some things just call for it.
I took the convocation speaker's advice. I found humor. I came home and turned on some Brian Reagan. The world was made better again. I'm also excited because my air conditioning broke yesterday, and if you talk to anyone who lives in Texas in August, you'd understand why this is a travesty. I lost sleep last night, which ended up not killing me because I stayed home yesterday and slept due to my worsening sore throat and cold. Cold? In summer? Yep. Anyway, it was about 85 degrees in my apartment last night. Thanks to the apartment, however, my air conditioning is fixed. I felt the difference immediately when I came home. Say hello to sleep.
Highlight of the day: I don't know. The convocation speaker was definitely my favorite highlight. Brian Reagan is a close second. The sun shield is probably third. My as-of-yet-unmentioned highlight would have to be: my classroom is beginning to feel like my classroom. My brother and sister-in-law helped a lot on Saturday, but I'm beginning to own it in my mind. And though it's not perfect, it's a far cry from where it used to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment