Dear Recess, I Love You

Today was the official first day back to school. Bell rang at 9:05. Tardy bell rang at 9:10. Hope you are there- I mean really, it is after 9, so you should be. The theme in my mind today was recess. We had not 1, but 2 recesses today and I didn't have to be out there for either of them! It is kind of like the teachers get a recess as well! Fabulous! The first 30 minute recess is while we eat lunch. Our kiddos eat prior to this for 20 minutes. Really, kids can eat in 20 minutes and this works really well. Then there is an additional 15 minute recess in the afternoon around 2. So nice! A little breather for kids and teachers alike. School went well- still totally shadowing my partner teacher until the adoptive baby is due, so not too much work on my end. Seems like a great class- not too many talkers- really well-behaved (albeit tall) students. Looking forward to a fun year. Filled with many, many recess breaks.

Oh My, School Tomorrow

Today was filled with health training on how to use epi pens and directions to call 911 when in doubt of a student's safety. So different than any other training I've been through! Tonight we met our students - all 28 of them. So cute and young-looking- very different than the 6th grade urban class I had down in Texas. The parents all brought desserts and we hung out and met everybody. I think most parents were relieved that I was a "qualified" sub to take over while the regular teacher was out on leave.

I can barely stand on my sore feet- don't know how I am going to get used to standing and walking around all day keeping up with these kiddos! The hardest job in education is definitely teaching and I haven't even really begun to teach yet. Off to bed for a great first day tomorrow!

Day 1: Staff Development

Well today was my official first day of getting paid. Okay, so I only got paid for the staff development portion of the day, but I figure if I don't go in and help set up the room, learn the routines, etc, I may be up the creek without a paddle. We (my partner teacher and I) are anxiously awaiting the birth of her adoptive daughter. Whenever that happens I will go on contract officially and take over until January. I am thoroughly excited to be at this school! We had so much fun getting the room ready this morning and talking about our beliefs in classroom management- which by the way, are eerily similar, so that is a relief!

We then went to the Seattle Times Building for some staff development on PLC's. The principal seems ready to start them- thankfully I have some experience in this area, which she knows, so it may go a little smoother on our small team of 2 full time teachers (or 1 full time and 2 job share) in 6th grade. After that it was off to Red Hook Brewery for drinks and appetizers to say good-bye to the old office manager and get to know the staff. I am gathering the "office manager" is like the super secretary. There is also a regular secretary. Very nice.

Another fun position they have here is recess duty person (obviously not the official name). Yay- no duty at all. They pay people to come in early and do the duty, stay late and do bus duty and then do recess duty. The downside is you supervise your students eating in the room (no cafeteria) for 20 minutes (always thought this was plenty of time). Then you get 30 full minutes of duty-free lunch in the lounge. Nice! And...we have two recess times! Imagine that, kids getting recess twice a day. Just like in the old days. I will get some pics of the playground- it is right outside our classroom and super spacious.

So I took some shots of just our room today. My favorite things are the super huge windows with blinds built in between the glass (having worked at Anderson for years with no windows- this is great) and the mounted projector screen and brand-new Promethian board. I don't know how to use all this yet, but it sure looks cool.

We also are in a "pod" with the other 2 5th grade classes, so we have a teacher's bathroom in the center, a shared area for storage in addition to the classroom and student bathrooms in the pod- no need to go to the main building. This is a very small building with 450 students. 27 of them will be in our room as of now! Lots of bodies!

Tomorrow we have more staff development at school and then we'll get a chance to finish up our rooms. Tomorrow night, we have a meet the teacher night for just 6th grade where it is "dessert night" with the students- even homemade stuff is allowed (so not legal in Texas). I am planning on bringing the girls and John so they can finally see where and with whom I'll be spending my time this year! More to follow! Ever onward!

P.S. Totally passed out on my bed under the electric blanket tonight for an hour while the girls watched a movie. Brings back memories of my first years of teaching...entirely exhausted!

And the Insomnia Begins...

After falling asleep last night around 1 a.m., I promptly woke up at 7 a.m. thinking I was late for the first day of school! Realizing I had better things to do than lay around, I jumped up and read the entire first chapter of The First Six Weeks of School by Paula Denton and Roxann Kriete. My partner teacher thrust it into my hands before I left school on Friday saying, "You'll want to read this."

She was right. It is a locally published book- but actually does a terrific job of outlining what it truly means to "build community" and "create a culture of trust." Everybody says they do these things- but this book explicitly outlines how to do them. I must say it goes right along with the social well-being that is so focused on here in Washington. Social curriculum is as important as academic curriculum (I do agree with this statement- but when do we have time?)

These first 80 pages can be summarized by saying that students need to function with autonomy; meaning that students must function independently without constant adult control. I must say I don't have a problem with this in my classroom- but I am determined to refine my teaching this year! Another important belief in this book is that the greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction- again, I agree and I have done this in the past- but certainly I have room for improvement! Lots of explicit modeling of expectations and lots of getting-to-know you activities for both student-to-student and teacher-to-student.

On to finish the book today and plan out more lessons for the first week. Luckily it is divided into sections for the different grade levels: K-2, 3-4 and 5-6. Bring on the new ideas!

Job. Check!

So after two unfruitful (is that even a word?) attempts at obtaining a job, I find myself being a long-term 6th grade sub until Christmas with promise of a job-share (half-time work and half-time pay) after that. Sounds good enough. Probably words you shouldn't settle for with a job, but music to my ears after seeking out employment for two solid months.

Here are the things I found startling this morning at my human resources appointment: one- I get half of the full salary as a teacher (yay me- better than a sub's pay); two- the union plays a HUGE part in teacher's lives up here; three- we get 12 sick days and 2 personal days (four more than Texas); and four- the salary schedule is much better than what it showed online- that only showed what you get paid for teaching the 174 student days. Whoooo-hoooo! Big bonus for extra 12 or so teacher professional days that are scheduled in.

More to come! I report Monday to school in the morning, meeting at the Seattle Times building in the p.m. and the Red Hook Brewery for "social times." after that. Gosh, I love this school!