First Day ‘08-’09.

Students and teachers returned to most area schools Wednesday.  A few districts started on Tuesday, but my school year began with a half-day of eight twenty minute periods on Wednesday.  Shortened periods pose a challenge - you don't want to have too much planned, but you don't want to have too little.  I taught seven classes yesterday.  Somehow, an ELA AIS was worked into my science teaching schedule.  That's kind of weird, right?  I'm not certified to teach English and I haven't diagrammed a sentence since 1987, so I may not be the best person to lead a remedial course on subject and predicate.  When I asked an administrator why this was placed on my schedule, I was met with the reply, "Well, you write and speak the language.  It just happened to fit into your schedule."  With that sort of logic, I think we can get one of the hall monitors to teach the class!  I made my plea to have it removed from my schedule and it appears that my request will be honored, so I'm pretty happy with that.  

I rearranged my room for the upcoming year.  I turned it into a U shape and so far I've received many positive comments about my setup.  The kids seem to like it, and it allows me to walk around without banging my knee or thigh into desks.  I wanted to assign seats the very first day, but I didn't have accurate rosters for any of my classes, which made it difficult to have a seating chart ready in advance.  I was not alone in this situation.  Nobody at my school had an accurate class list due to a database problem that should have been solved over summer.  Why would you wait until the end of summer to migrate an entire student database to a new system?  It's a small hitch, but aggravating nonetheless.  Especially infuriating when you consider that you spent an entire week sitting in a classroom listening to professional development seminars without an official word from administration as to when you would receive your class lists, office supplies, and other information necessary for the initiation of a new school year.  I soldiered on, allowing the kids to pick their own seat for the first week, reassuring them that by Monday I would have seats assigned.  On a positive note, letting them sit where they wished gave me a good read on how to make my seating chart.  I now know who to separate.

It was a half-day, but it felt like a marathon.  I taught all summer long, but there's nothing like that first day back.  I really enjoyed meeting my new students and I'm very optimistic.  I've got a great bunch of kids this year and I know that I can give them what they need to be successful.