First Week

Well.  I made it.  I survived the first week of school at a new school

and without my own classroom.

And you know what?

It.  Was.  AWESOME.

It was also exhausting and overwhelming and sad and exciting 

and inspiring and frustrating and affirming and yes, even peaceful.

How was it all of those feelings, and it was only a four day week?  

Good question.  It just was.

It was exhausting because there is nothing quite like back-to-school-teacher exhaustion.  It was overwhelming because while I know the teachers now, 400+ kids faces?  Most of which are nameless still?  Yeah, it was sad, too.  For the first time, I walked the hallways knowing next to no children.  Even my first year in my own classroom, I knew most of the families as I had been there the previous year.   It was like a family reunion that first year.  This year?  I missed that piece.  I missed seeing my former students flood the hallways, eager to start their new year.

Some students touring the Mercaz as seen
from the newly renovated 7-8 wing!

Describing the first day of school as exciting is almost cliche, but this year, it really fit.  It was exciting, starting a new adventure, in a new building, with new colleagues and families.  There is so much possibility in excitement of a new school year!  Being a Jewish Day School, there was an awe inspiring energy as students, from kindergarten on up, led morning minyan, how the pledge was followed by morning blessing.  It gave me chills as I walked past the rooms with kids singing prayers.

It was frustrating because the technology complicated things WAY more than it needed too, and coming from a school where the tech was predictably effective?  Yeah.   Affirming?  I made the right choice.  After a week of students, and two and a half weeks with the teachers, I already feel like I'm at home when I walk through the doors each morning.  And that feeling?  Led to a sense of peace that I've not experienced in a school before.  Ever.

I can't quite explain it.  (Believe me, I've tried.)  There is something unique about this place.  The technology leaves a lot to be desired, but the willingness and openness of the staff, makes it more manageable.  The teachers have blown me away in their risk-taking, and the fact that they're stepping up to the plate and trying new things week one.  I am awed by their willingness to step out of their comfort zone this early.  I've only known most of them for two weeks, and the fact that they're already starting to incorporate some of the new technologies into their classrooms humbles me.

Enjoying the new learning spaces in the
7-8 wing!  Who says you need chairs?!

Being part of the leadership team, and not a classroom teacher, has given me a whole new perspective on school.  While my days were often over-scheduled this first week, being able to walk around in the cafeteria (called the miznon) during lunch, and check in with students throughout the day in different areas of the school?  It's really a neat angle from which I see things now.

The highlight of my week, though, had to be the few classes I got to teach.  Getting to introduce their laptops to the fifth graders, and help the fifth through eighth graders get situated with their new emails...... and introducing a group of fourth graders to the world of google..... This.  This job?  Yeah.

While I may have had some doubts about my ability to step up into my new role, those doubts are gone.  Embracing the challenges that lay ahead are going to make this journey all the sweeter.......

The introduction of the eighth grade project - I get to mentor a group this year!  Can't wait!

The Downside to the Cloud

I love the cloud.  I've had a Dropbox account forever, and continue to find it indispensable.  All my photos are stored on Shutterfly, which makes bragging about my little niece super simple.  The Evernote suite has been indispensable for note taking for the past several years, and when you throw Penultimate into the mix, the ability to type OR write in my cloud-based notebooks?  Awesome.  To add to my wonderfully cloudy sky, I started using Google Drive for everything that I don't have in Dropbox.

I love the cloud.  Or maybe two.

Conferences and Report Cards.
(yes, that's two.)

Because I store all my records, notes, lesson plans, units of study, student work, files for projects and activities, and just about everything else I need to do my job, which includes writing report cards twice a year, and preparing for conferences twice a year...... well, I can't exactly shut off my wi-fi to keep me from being distracted online like I did in the olden days.

Which I desperately need to do.

I spent the entire weekend prepping for conferences.  Or should I say, avoiding prepping for conferences.  It's not that conference prep is all that challenging.  There's a sense of accomplishment in seeing the growth from September until now, and, if growth isn't on the menu, adjusting goals and interventions so that growth is achieved in between now and second quarter.

Getting started, though...... that's what's impossible, thanks, in part, to the cloud.

I spent my weekend playing gin and cribbage with others on Yahoo, window shopping on Zulily, adding to my amazon wish list, building a new Shutterfly book for my niece, researching virtual field trips connected to classroom content, predicting weather patterns, diagnosing my dog's cough, diagnosing my most recent spell of headaches, looking for recipes that I'd actually eat, reading up on favorite movies on IMDB, and shopping for couches.

In other words, since I couldn't turn my internet off, I couldn't do any prepping for conferences.

Darn you cloud computing.......

Guess it's a good thing that I work great under pressure!