Is It Friday Yet?

My new morning view.

What a week. And it’s not even quite over yet. We are in the midst of our first round of testing for the year. I have only had to proctor one test even though I teach Language and Reading to two grades (= 4 possible tests to proctor). I've had a lot of down time due to the testing schedule, but I'm still feeling glad tomorrow is Friday.

Maybe I'm still adjusting to the school year... Or maybe I'm just in sync with my students and feeling a smidge of what they must be feeling during their first of three  testing sessions throughout the school year. Or you know, it could be that I attended the funeral of a former parent on Monday and stayed up late last night to watch a soccer game.

I can't say it's been a bad week. Or even that Monday was awful. Okay - it wasn't good. The former parent who passed away was seriously the smileyest human being I've ever met. I taught fifth grade to both of his kids, the grade that is the mushy middle of the K-8 system, the grade where kids really become adolescents before, during, or quite shortly after. I have taught fifth grade classes with students losing teeth every other day. I have taught fifth grade classes with several girls getting their first periods on my watch. It's an interesting age to be sure. I ran into him on the baseball field (my son was practicing flag football) and in the grocery store. And I still can't recall a time when I saw him without a smile. I hope someone can someday say the same of me. I know I'm not there yet, but it's something to aspire to.

The funeral was hard. His kids were too young to have to deal with his death. He made a positive impact on his community in many ways, including a myriad of ways I never knew. I had to ask my new co-workers to cover my responsibilities at my new school and ate my lunch (a peanut butter sandwich and banana) in the car as I drove between my new school and the old one where the funeral was held. I ended up with a pre-migraine in the early evening, and sent myself to bed at 7:00pm as a result. Monday was hard.

But it was good too. Three of my new co-workers covered for me without pause or question. They were happy to help me and glad that I was able to attend the funeral. I saw several former co-workers and students who seemed as grateful to see me as I was to see them. I am grateful to feel that I am already part of my new community. I am excited for the year ahead with kind, compassionate people who have welcomed me into their community and so very blessed to still feel a part of the community I have left.

My principal came into my classroom for his first informal walk through of the school year this week too. I was trying to engage eighth graders in a lesson on the different kinds of pronouns. Did you know there are personal, possessive, reflexive, relative, interrogative, and demonstrative pronouns in an eighth grade textbook? So, yeah. Yay pronouns! In the afternoon. The eighth graders are a great group of kids. Not hard to engage, but hard to focus. In the midst of my lesson, one of my students who shares my first name, said, "I like your hair." I could and should have brought her comment into my lesson - after all there were two pronouns in her statement - but all I said was, "How is that relevant now?" Of course her friend said, "It's relevant to her! She likes your hair!" At least the kids are comfortable in my room, right?

We had a fire drill this week too. It was my first one at this school, and I did not have students during the drill due to the aforementioned testing schedule. The sixth graders did well. Very well. They were more quiet than their neighboring classes and were patient with the cross traffic out to the field, letting younger students pass in front of them.

Can you see how wet my shoes are after the fire drill?

I've emailed parents regarding their students' progress and consulted the counselor. I have been working with the marketing director to get my webpage operational. I am not feeling overwhelmed with my workload... which feels weird on some level, but is also quite liberating.

I know I made the correct decision in coming to this school. I already feel like I'm home.