meetings

Sitting in the media center (library) for hours at a time remains, with out a doubt, the hardest part of the week back to school. The stuffy, windowless media center just seems to suck Suck SUCK the energy out of me and turn me into a cranky, eye rolling participant. And the thing is, the things we are being told are important. The team building we do matters. The personality survey actually gave me insight to myself and my coworkers. It's just sitting and counting down the minutes to get into my classroom, to sort through things, to plan the exciting first week. That's the hard part. Knowing a classroom waits for you on the other side of professional development. 

So, I survived a morning of presentations. A morning of what our vision is at our school, what the vision is of the District. How we will continue the work we were doing last year. How we will move forward with amazing work in education, even as the budget shrinks and our class sizes grow. 

I can do this. I feel strong as a teacher this year. I am strong. I'm a freakin' 5th year teacher. I'm not the new gal any more. I have more materials than I know what to do with. I have a tool box of ideas. I have sound, strong philosophies and a good idea how to put them to practical use in my classroom. 

So the morning, as painful as sitting and listening and staying focused was... it did get my brain on track. It got the vocabulary back in my head (MYP, standards based learning, formative assessment, assessment for learning, individual student growth, rigor for all, etc, etc etc). I made my way back to my classroom after lunch and got to work. I cleaned, I filed, I hung posters and I THOUGHT. I thought about the first week. The first month. The first unit. The foundations for the year. Because there are just a couple more days to get it all in order. Then BOOM. We begin. 

are we here again?

First day back for teachers. I love coming back to the school. Setting up my classroom, getting organized, planning the year. Everything feels fresh. Feels like a new start. This year I'm in a new classroom. I have windows. I have a little more space. I have...boxes all over the place from moving. So that will be my day tomorrow (after whatever morning stuff the admins have planned for us). Sort. File. Email. Begin to think about the first day with my new students. A new beginning. Here we go again.