First Time....

Tomorrow.  Tomorrow is the first time in 13 years I won't be standing at the door of my classroom, eagerly awaiting the children as they race down the hallway, ready to meet their new teacher.  Tomorrow marks the first time I didn't set up a classroom, or decorate any bulletin boards.  It's the first time in 13 years I didn't have to send a "Welcome to Ms. Diem's class" email to the families that would be spending the next ten months with me.  No labeling of coat hooks or mailboxes, desks or folders.  Tomorrow is the first time in 13 years I won't be greeted with hugs from students, past and future.

Instead, I will be in a new school, with a community that doesn't know me.  I'll watch as 400 students stream through the doors in search of their classroom.  The younger students will flood the hallway with hugs in their arms as they approach their new classroom and their new teachers.  The older students will send high fives flying across the hallway as they check in at their lockers before heading to meet their new teachers.

The hallways will be full of energy.  The teachers will be smiling, hiding that tiny bit of first day anxiety that lingers no matter how many years you've been teaching.

And me?

I won't be standing at the door of my classroom waiting for my students.  Not this year.

Am I sad about that?  Yeah.  I am.
I miss my classroom.  I miss the families that I've known for years whose children were finally old enough to be in my class.  I miss my hallway pals and the conversations we had every morning while the kids streamed in.

But.

I am excited.  I am actually really excited.

Because this year?  This first day of school?

The whole building is my classroom.  And while I am not going to be greeting everyone by name (yet!) and I might not have my own class, this new adventure will have me exploring the world of educational technology with over 400 students and 100 staff members.  An easy transition from corner classroom to entire school?  Nope.  A scary one?  Kinda.  One I'm ready to take on?  Absolutely.

Let the technological adventures begin!

Triple Crown Worthy News

Yesterday, after 37 years without, the horse world celebrated a new Triple Crown Winner.  That's quite a long spell without watching one well-bred thoroughbred claim victory in the Belmont, Derby, and Preakness.  But yesterday, it happened.  American Pharoah and his jockey Victor Espinoza crossed the finish line of the Belmont with a victorious fist pump, securing the first Triple Crown since 1978.

Affirmed took the title in 1978 with jockey Steve Cauthen aboard.  I was born in 1978, which makes it a pretty special year.  And 37 years later, 37 years after Affirmed took the title, I've got some big news, too.

I've spent my entire teaching career in the same district, same building, and believe it or not, the same classroom.  From pre-student teaching to student teaching, to a year and a half as the building sub completing three long-terms, including one in my room..... I have spent all 13 years of my career in what I have always thought was the most incredible place to teach.  And while I still think that my district, and especially my school, is a pretty incredible place to teach, it's time to move on.

An opportunity crossed my path that was too good to pass up.  So, after 13 years in my classroom, I am stepping out of the classroom and into a leadership role at a local community day school as their Coordinator of Technological Play.  When my students asked me what that mean, I explained it to them like this:

In our classroom, I get to help guide you, my students, through your education while incorporating all sorts of fun technologies into our learning experiences.  In my new position, I'll get to do the same thing but instead of only my students, I'll get to work with an entire school.  And instead of helping just my teammates, I'll get to work with all the teachers.

I could see it landing in their eyes, and there were some tears (many of which were my own) but I think we've come to an understanding that while there is sadness in leaving my home of 13 years, there is excitement in starting a new adventure.

So it is with a bittersweet note that I bid farewell to the incredible Conant Elementary School and say hello to Hillel Day School.  As this momentous event in my life has been punctuated by a Triple Crown win, I think that's a good sign, don't you?