Work Week (The Backlog!)

 Monday I got to set eyes on my classroom again.

I'm not ready to be back yet, but at the same time I think this year will be better than the last (You can't get any worse than the worst!).

The bookcase of ancient medial texts was thrown into my room for some reason (My guess: proximity!).

The Promethean Board was a pretty cool surprise.

It would have been cooler if someone had told me before I bought a bunch of dry erase markers, though.

It's great that the school system wanted to support us by buying a bunch of Promethean boards no one asked for. For all those hundreds of thousands of dollars spent, It would be nice to have desks that match, too.

Day 1 was filled with meeting after meeting. Three of our four admin staff turned over (1 retire, 1 interim-promotion, and 1 took a new job). We have a new head principal and so far she's advocating strongly for a strong attendance/tardy policy and wants to keep the halls clear of kids. Those were two of my biggest complaints from last year, so I'm ready to hop on the bandwagon!

I replaced my wiper blades Monday night to get ready for Tuesday.

We had a convocation downtown. I got up early and dropped the Subaru off at the shop for maintenance and an inspection. From there, I walked the mile to the pavilion.

It would have been a perfect plan if not for the rain. 

Most of ACPS was there. School buses served as shuttles from each of the schools. There were multiple speakers who did their best to be extra motivational.

I have to give the city school system credit here: Dr Atkins threw a much more inspirational kick-off to the year. The bee mascot just didn't create enough buzz to lift my spirits.

I felt a lot better about the Bodo's sandwhich I picked up on the way back to the shop.

And I got free ice cream at Moo Through when their internet went out! "You're a teacher?" the cashier asked. "So's my mom. You're covered."

It was awesome. That cone did more to pump me up for the school year than the convocation. I took a picture to brag to Carrie.

The rest of the week was filled with meetings and getting ready for the year.

Thursday, I got the bright idea to "spend half an hour or so" arranging some old student work into posters to laminate.

I figured it would save me a lot of time to hang up posters instead of individual pieces of work (They were a pain to put up and take down last year!).

That "half an hour or so" multiplied into a couple of hours. Friday was a dedicated workday to finishing grading modules online, but I went in anyway to pick up the final products from the laminator. 

I had planned on sending Shane to SC for the work week, but Carrie asked for him to stay home. She put him to work watching Kila whenever she went outside to work on the barn. Frankly, I suspect they watched a lot of TV together, too! I think Carrie wasn't ready to be home alone yet. On one hand, I was sad Shane missed the opportunity for cousin time, on the other I was proud he was able to help keep the house running smoothly and smartly (And it saved me ~16 hours of driving, too!).