I survived the first official work week. Meetings, meetings, more meetings, and then trying to set up classrooms in the time leftover mark the beginning of any school year. School don't want to pay teachers more than they have to, so we have one week to organize, get our head in the game, and then go for it! The school has been open until 9 PM each night this week, and they're opening in up on Sunday as well for teachers who need more time setting up. I did everything I could to have my room ready to go, and I'm going to work on my lesson plans and IEP reading at home this weekend.
I am not looking forward to this year. Evaluations are in the air. My kids last year didn't do very well for a number of reasons, so I'm starting off this year under a critical eye. It's stressful, but I'm choosing to look at it as an opportunity for improvement. I want to use the pressure to galvanize me to do better than ever. I feel like I'm a good teacher, but I know I'm not the best. There's room to improve. I'm going to focus on giving my best performance to date and converting my evaluator(s) into believers in my ability. Everyone has to have a rough year at some point, and this is my turn. Keep positive, pray to keep positive, and choose to have an forward progressing attitude rather than of dwelling upon the past.
And yet, I'm still glad to be back at work in some manner. It feels good to have a purpose and be working. The kids seemed nice at orientation and I'm working with new teachers who seem like they'll be a good fit.
I'm in a new classroom this year. It will be my third room in the four years I've been at my school. All of the other special educators on my floor were shuffled, so it just seems to be the department's M.O. to be in a constant flux. After going through two teachers for the same position last year (though in fairness, one quit to focus on her newborn), we have a new special ed math teacher which will let me focus on one subject: science. At least that was the plan. There were some last minute shuffles, and I'm now team-teaching a history class and a split grade basic skills class. The life of a special educator is all about flexibility.
Technical difficulties abounded during the week. I don't have access to all of the electronic materials I need yet. There are no classes assigned to me on blackboard. I wasn't assigned to the staff community either. Then I had to call support to be able to read the IEPs on my account. My class schedules were not available until Friday and I noticed that I have one class that's overflowing and another of two. Two! I was never made aware of what classrooms I was teaching in and almost went to the wrong room for my learning seminar. Thankfully, I bumped into a kid in the hallway who was going to my class. I started to lead him to my new classroom, but he got confused and showed me his schedule. There was a different room number listed! The teachers in the room I was going to were a bit miffed as well, because no one had told them their room was being taken over for a period.
Would you believe that there's some level of this chaos every year? It's part and parcel for the job. Teachers have to make everything look as if things were going smoothly from the start so that the students and parents don't feel the abruptness of the transition.
On a funny note, the younger brother of one of the students I tutor is going to be in my learning seminar. Small world, huh?
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