Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Orientation: Day 2

One thing I've been thankful for the last 24 hours is contact with other people new to the C-U area. I've been down here for 3 weeks and have either wandered around on my own or sat at home watching ballgames, CNN, Food Network or new episodes of Psych while working on lesson plans. From what I can tell, I've put a lot more into planning than my counterparts, which hopefully will make being a new teacher a bit easier!

Today we spent a few hours learning about pathogens. We learned about ordering supplies. Around mid-morning we all met up with our new teacher mentors and for those of us at the high school, had a chance to walk the building and get our first true introduction to our 2nd home for the next school year. It was then time for lunch back at the Middle School next door. This turned out to be a fantastic salad from Panera and an enormous cookie (which I'm proud to say I didn't finish).

I had about 30 minutes after lunch to work on Coop stuff, so I went up to my office (reference yesterday's message about the office). I am one of those people who prefer to sit and put a solid block of time into something. 30 minutes wouldn't allow me to call too many students and I'd just be getting into it by the time I had to meet downstairs for the "high school" meeting.  Instead, I went through my roster and wrote down phone #'s so that when I come back tomorrow I can dive right into the phone calls. 

The 1:30 meeting went until 4, past the 3:30 schedule but was chock full of good information. Our principal reinforced how great the staff and the school was, a phrase heard often during my two days and since my interview. Thus far I don't doubt it! We learned about hall passes, alarms, homeless/homebound students, parking, clubs & organizations, computers and how to work the grade system, which I've already been doing.

I'm really looking forward to starting classes. I'm also looking forward to getting to know the staff around me better and the students I'll have. What I heard today reinforced that my attitude and approach to teaching is in the right mode and I can not wait to make a difference in their lives.

Years ago, I was told going into the music biz not to expect to make any impact. I believe I did. I was a hard worker who focused on creating lasting, positive relationships with my clients and fellow promoters. I learned to be tough but I also learned that my "be nice" and you'll "get the same" approach to life does really work. I worked in an area of the industry where I know that each event I put on, made a difference in some kid or some person's life. And I know I made a difference in the lives of a few other people too. This time, I've got a job where I know there is nothing to do but to make a difference and help someone grow both in skills and emotions and in progression towards the real world from school life. We'll see how it all unfolds right here...

1 comment:

  1. Your approach is absolutely the correct one. It takes awhile, but after a few years when you start catching up with the Facebook pages of kids you had an impact on, it will be a really, really good feeling.

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