Pre-Service Week '09

I love pre-service week. I love being able to have a whole week to work in my room and talk to teachers about our ideas for the upcoming year.

What did I do with mine? The usual: working, meeting, chatting, sweating, moving, bitching, moaning, and being professional developed.

The thing I worried about most this summer was confirmed on Monday. I was moving rooms. The administration didn't have a certain answer for me when I left in June, but I got an answer on Monday. All of Monday, between Convocation and a school-wide meeting, I moved from my upstairs room to my new room downstairs. I'm no longer in room 208, but I'm not changing this blog again. :)

At first, I was frustrated. Why couldn't they email me during the summer and let me know? I would've come in earlier and moved! Then I decided just to get it over with and see it as a fresh start for this year. Last year, I moved into another teacher's spot a week into the school year and never got to set up the room the way I wanted. This year I got to do that and I got to do it in a new room (a blank slate). By the time I left on Monday, it was all set.

Tuesday started off with parking in my new assigned parking spot. It is sooo much better than the one I had last year. It's on the academic side of the school, so I no longer have to walk all the way through the school to get to my room. It's also right next to the door. Since I had to move rooms on Monday, I decided to bring in all the supplies and books I bought over the summer on Tuesday. This new parking spot made the two trips I had to take so much easier. I quickly put away all of the supplies and headed off to the first professional development of the week.

The first PD of the week brought great news (for me, at least. Some weren't too happy about it): we are switching to a 4X4 block schedule next year. WOOO! For those of you who have no clue what that means, it means we are switching from a 7-bell schedule (7 classes for the whole year) that has 4 classes every other day (one meets every day) to a schedule with 4 classes per semester that meet every day for 90 minutes each. I love the 4X4 schedule, probably because the HS I graduated from switched to it and it made my life a lot easier (and I learned a lot more). As a teacher, this means a lighter student load and one planning period per day. Also, the students can no longer use the excuse of the every other day schedule to claim they don't remember homework, tests, quizzes, etc.

After that PD, we were let loose for lunch. The county I work in has a lot of new development happening, so we headed to one of the new restaurants that opened over the summer. Since pre-service week is one of the few times in the year where teachers have enough time to go out for lunch, most of my department jumped at the chance. We headed to what my department chair now calls "The Fox & The Hound". We actually went there twice during the week and it was DELICIOUS. I was so surprised! A lot of students from New School work there, too, which is cute to see.

Wednesday was full of working, chatting, and a meeting or two. I finally finished my syllabus for English 9 as well as English 10. I had to finish my room so it was ready for Freshman Orientation the next day. My room and my syllabi have never looked better! I think this is definitely the best job I've done of getting my room and information together.

Thursday was the Busy Day. It started with Freshmen Orientation. The freshies went off with Link Crew to have fun and be introduced to the school and upperclassmen who can help them through the year, the parents were stuck with us. First, we sent the parents to the auditorium to meet VIPs, then we went them to homeroom to sign papers, then I had to meet the three classes of Freshie parents. After meeting the parents, I watched all of my former 10th grade babies walk by in their new Junior attitudes and positions as Link Crew leaders. They were excited to see me and I was excited to see them. They were doing a great job and I beamed with pride as they walked by. A few of them stopped by after they were finished, lamented that I wasn't teaching English 12 anymore, and told me they'd talked me up to friends that have me this year.

Let me tell you, I hate meeting parents. I love talking to parents after I've met them, but I hate getting ready to meet them and I hate the initial "Let Me Tell You What My Class is About..." speech while they stare at me. I hate it mostly because I always end up right in front of the parents who give me the look that says, "You don't look old enough to teach my child. Are you qualified?" Nothing makes me more nervous than seeing that look on a parent's face. Gives me chills just thinking about it now.

One really awesome thing happened while I was meeting parents: A parent of a sophomore I had last year told everyone in my 1st period group that her daughter just loved me and my class last year, and her daughter hated reading and writing. I told them all I paid her $20 to say that. At least my 1st period parents will have good reports for their kids...

Anyway, I met a lot of parents, gave them my selling points, then breathed a sigh of relief and talked with the teacher next door about how much we were sweating after it was all over. She looks young like I do, so we bonded over the fact that all the parents probably think we graduated from HS last year.

As if meeting parents wasn't torture enough, we were sent to a three hour long professional development about high standards. This lady lectured at us for three hours and then said, "This was supposed to be 4 days." FOUR DAYS of PD into THREE HOURS! There were no breaks, either, so at one point in time, my legs cramped up and my bladder almost burst. I'm one of those people who hates getting up in the middle of someone talking, no matter how badly I need to and no matter how badly the lecture is because I had a few teachers scare the ever-loving daylights out of me whenever I needed to get up in their classrooms. It's a phobia that's stuck with me even though I highly doubt anyone would interrupt their own lecture to tell another professional to sit down. I ended up doing it anyway when I just couldn't take it anymore and everyone else in the room had gotten up and moved at least once.

I have no clue what she said for the last 90 minutes, either.

All in all, this was a very productive pre-service week. My room is set up, the homeroom materials are on the desk, the syllabi are copied and ready, and all my ice breaker games are ready.

There are so many positives so far this year, that I can't help but feel that it's going to be great. I have a new classroom and a great bunch of teachers that have welcomed me to the first floor. I have a great administration: a new AP who is hilarious, and a principal and AP that complimented me on my ability. I have former students who have stopped by and who have made me proud already. I have a department chair who is hilarious and a department as a whole that are motivated and connected. I have a great new co-teacher. I've already had another teacher say they want to come into my class and see what I do and learn from me. My room is next to a teacher who cracks me up and is new to the school, like me.

Basically, some things are new, but I feel comfortable. I know what I'm getting into, I know the people I work with, I even know some of my new students. I still have a few nerves and anxieties about the first day, but this year I'm not half as nervous as I was before. I don't think I'll ever meet a new group of students without some nerves, and I'm okay with that. I think this year will be a lot more smooth than last for many reasons and that makes me incredibly excited.