I'm no fun, even in my sleep

Last night I dreamt that I was putting my classroom standards and learning objectives in kid-friendly language with my class.

Can't I have more exciting dreams like the one where you're teaching and you realize you forgot to get dressed?

In other news that is only exciting for education nerds, I get to see Ron Clark speak in a mere 4 days from now!!! That's right, I'm counting down the days!

Training, Day Two

Today I learned about data mining and professional learning communities. I'm glad that my orientation is covering useful stuff that I actually need to know rather than just basic don't-touch-other-people's-blood type information. Still, it felt like I sat in my metal folding chair for a year by the time the day was over. I also found that many people have not been as lucky at getting a job with this district as quickly as I did. Lots of people took other jobs while waiting to be hired here or they subbed with the district until they could get hired as teachers. I feel lucky and wonder why I got picked up so easily.

One thing I really liked hearing was that the district believes that if a student does an assignment and receives a bad grade, that grade should be recorded and kept unless the student puts in time and effort and redoes the assignment to show mastery. They believe that the highest grade should be taken and not just averaged in. I like this way of thinking and agree that having this policy in my classroom would make students more inclined to keep trying and keep working until they master an objective, rather than feel like the best they could get anyway would be a C. Before today, I probably would not have thought about having this policy but I'm glad to be able to have it as part of my classroom now. I also love that I don't *have* to have this policy in my classroom and that I have the freedom to choose it.

Another thing I took away from my training today is the importance of putting the standards and objectives in kid-friendly language. I am going to try to always introduce a topic by giving my students the objectives and having them rewrite it as a group into something that holds meaning for them. I will then keep their reworded version on the wall for the duration of our time working with that standard. Once again, I love that they shared this good idea with the results of its effectiveness without saying it was a mandatory thing.

In other news, I found out that the district has decided not to offer a sooner paycheck for incoming teachers even though they said they would. I had a slight freak-out today where I emailed anyone I thought might be able to assist me because I was counting on that check in my budget. I'm still mad that something was offered and not made good on, but I do feel more rational than I felt earlier this evening. I will tactfully complain tomorrow and prepare myself for the fact that I will not get a paycheck until a month from now.

Quick update

I worked hard in my classroom Thursday. I got many bulletin boards covered and bordered and got my welcome message posted on the door. I also found out that I'm on the discipline committee and had my first meeting.

Friday night I went to one of the other fourth grade teacher's house for her daughter's birthday. We had a good time, even though we didn't know anyone when we arrived. Everyone made us feel comfortable and welcomed.

Today I went to my first day of new teacher orientation. Harry Wong would be proud. Six days of orientation! Hopefully I'll feel like I know what I'm doing by the end of the week. To make it better, I found out that I will be paid a stipend for the orientation time! Sitting through sexual harassment training is so much more bearable knowing I'm being paid to be there! I also found out that I will be reimbursed for my out-of-state certification costs. It's wonderful finding out there is money coming for things I would have done regardless!

Pictures of El Paso, Juarez, and my classroom are coming soon.

I Got In

I went into my new classroom for the first time today. I found out that they are tearing up the office and putting it back together and in the meantime, the school's secretary and computer clerk are operating out of my classroom. They apologized for being in my room but I told them as long as I didn't bother them, they wouldn't bother me.

I was able to bring all the boxes of school stuff into my classroom, although the teacher moving out of the room still has some stuff to move and since I'm temporarily sharing my room, it's a little hard to figure out where I'm going to put anything yet. I was able to pull my car up right to the outside door of my classroom, which was really nice. I took some things out of boxes, put my in/out boxes on my desk, and mostly just stood around staring at the room trying to figure out where to begin.

I probably won't move any furniture to where I want it to go until I have the room to myself. I'm hoping to go back in tomorrow and sketch out where I want stuff to go. I still can't decide how I want to arrange the students' desks. A horseshoe, long tables, and groups of 3-4 desks together all sound equally good. I have a fear that I will have to physically place the desks in each arrangement to really decide what I want. Tomorrow I'll also take my stapler with me and start hanging up colored paper over the bulletin boards. I need to get some sticky-tack and yarn so I can hang up some of my posters.

I will also be hitting the dollar store this week looking for some plastic bins to organize teaching materials and stuff. I'm really trying not to spend a ton of money on my new classroom but there are certain things that will improve the quality of my life that are hard to resist, like this chair, even though I'm way too broke. Maybe next month I'll have to break down and buy it. I also need a comfy office chair. My chair right now is a blue, plastic student chair with casters. It doesn't exactly look inviting.

I also need to start a home-away-from-home drawer in my room where I can keep an extra supply of pantyhose, deodorant (for those mornings when I only remember to apply deodorant to one side, it's happened before), a sweater, breath mints, and a healthy supply of chocolate.

As I was getting ready to leave the school, I ran into another 4th grade teacher. She is amazingly helpful and has been emailing me back and forth throughout the summer. She gave me a tour of the school and introduced me to some of the other teachers. Everyone was very friendly. I was surprised by how small the school is after walking through the halls. One nice thing about 4th grade is we are the only grade in our hall. We are next to the library and computer lab, which is very convenient, and makes for a peaceful hallway. I also got to see the workroom where all the supplies are stored. Raiding that is on tomorrow's agenda as well!

School Pics

I decided to run by my school today. No one was there, so I couldn't go in, but at least I found it and got to walk around and see what it looks like. First, I had to enter the military base.


The school is an older building, surrounded by new family housing that was just built.

When you stand in front of the school, there is a beautiful view of the mountains, which I didn't capture well with my camera.

The playground looks like fun, I've never seen one quite like it. Obviously built for army kids!

Hopefully, I will be able to get in the school sometime soon. I'm driving around with my car loaded down with all my school supplies and classroom library.

We Made It!

After 16 hours of driving (we went slow with the moving truck), we made it to El Paso last night. The three of us were exhausted. Today, we got our apartment. Miles went with his Grandma for his first night away from us. We got everything into the apartment, which was a feat since it is on the second floor. We're liking it though. Everyone seems very friendly. And we've either got the world's quietest people living around us or the walls are totally soundproof. I'm out of my mind with hunger and off to find some good Mexican food, which shouldn't be too hard.

It's Not Like I Don't Have Better Things To Do

It's not like I'm done packing or that my house is clean, but messing with this stuff is becoming a bit addictive. I started working on a digital scrapbook for Miles. It's just so satisfying to see a completed page.