My Start of School (2021-22)

School started with a whisper for me. 

Materially, I was ready. I had my classroom setup, my computer, and spare masks.

I even bought stickers as a possible bribe (Some students like to decorate their laptops).

I'd make blank copies of tessellations students could draw on and help decorate the room if they were done early or stressed.

Neither of which I've used. Those were a swing and a miss as far as inspirations go.

My first block of the day was planning, though. After that there was a "Mustang Morning" remediation period I, also, had planning for! The first two hours of the day there were students all over the building except in my classroom.

I worked on trying to clean out and fix the wheels on my chair.

My classroom was still full of Psychology stuff. All of the papers are still around a month later (and no one's leafed through any of them! Even me!).

I wanted to turn the bookshelf into a boardgame shelf for decoration (and hopeful future playing), but it was still full of Psych books.

The day itself went well once kids did arrive. For the most part they were too quiet. I was sure that'd change as they settled in (and boy did it!).

After two days of school, I think my A days will be the hardest. The kids are louder, I have lunch duty on Wednesdays, and the schedule is far from ideal. I get the morning off (nice!), but then I have to work straight through most of the day without breaks (not worth the morning off!). The bathrooms in blue hall are locked, so I have to power walk down to Green in the 5 minutes between class if I need to use the bathroom between 12:38 to 3:50 PM.

School lets out at 3:50 PM, but traffic is such a mess I didn't leave until around 4:15 PM each day. It was easier to let all the teenage drivers, parents, and school buses clear out. 

I made it home before 5 PM each day and got to relax a little before chores!

Carrie's solo on morning chores with Shane and I in school. We've picked up whatever slack with poop scooping she's left us each night.

I'm trying to reuse as much as I can from last year, but I've already started tweaking and modifying everything. It's a different year! Only a few days in, that was obvious! 

Everything is off to a good start so far. I'm glad we're back in person. There are some teachers saying "We'll never last," but I'm cautiously optimistic. Supposedly, ~75% of the kids are vaccinated. There are some who are sloppy with dropping their masks, but the vast majority don't seem to need reminders (That may change!).

And that's the start of things for me! More to come!