It has been another long week, and while I am still feeling overwhelmed I'm doing my best to keep things in perspective and not worry too much.
Last Sunday I went to a local Presbyterian church and I was immediately welcomed. It was quite a different experience from the week before. When I came in one of the members walked me into the worship space and introduced me to a few other people who talked with me for a little while and invited me to sit with them through worship. The worship service itself was more contemporary and casual than most Presbyterian services I have been to but I really enjoyed it. The sermon was about David and Goliath and how we all face giants in our own lives and it all comes down to where we turn for support and strength to overcome those giants. It was a very applicable telling of the story and an eye-opening reminder that we can't do things by ourselves.
All week we had different types of orientation meetings. Everyday was different, and there was a lot to learn from each session.
Monday the new teachers met with the technology resource teacher and learned how to set our grade books up online as well as our classroom webpages and email and a bunch of other little things. In the afternoon we met with our mentors. It was awesome to finally meet with the person that I'll be working and meeting with regularly. We spent a few hours talking about first day of school procedures as well as what I am most nervous about and how to combat that. Then she drove me around the area that kids come from for that high school. One of the schools I am at is further away and out in the woods more. Some of those kids have to sit on the bus for close to 45 minutes. We drove to both sides of the region, and saw the extremes the giant houses that the very rich families live in and the small historic villages that are out by the farms. It gave me a good perspective for that school, and it helped me to compare it to the other high school I'm at which is right in the middle of a suburb and in neighborhoods where most students can walk to school.
Tuesday we had math standards training. This was especially helpful since I am coming from out of state. Learning about the state exams here and the standards that go with them was wonderful and the activities that we did were hands on and enjoyable. In the afternoon we were able to go back to our schools and work on our own. It was nice to finally have some time on my own to work on things for the first day of school. I met another math teacher who is close to my age and teaching geometry as well. It was really reassuring to hear from her experiences and get some materials from her. That evening I went out for dinner and drinks with another teacher that I had met on the first two days of new teacher orientation. It was nice to go out with someone to relax and talk with someone who would understand.
Wednesday was the first day with all of the staff back at school. We had an opening staff meeting to introduce ourselves to each other, hear about procedures and policies, and then after lunch we all went bowling as a team building exercise. It was great to meet other staff members and do something fun with them.
Thursday I went to the other high school so that I could try to split my time evenly. We had a meeting about unpacking standards and going into them with more detail. It was long and drawn out but helpful none the less. During lunch I was able to meet with the other math department staff and get to know them a bit more and get some materials from them which was really helpful. After lunch we had orientation for the students. They ran through their schedules and they were in each class for 3 minutes. This gave me the opportunity to meet two out of my five classes (all of the ones at that school). It was short and I didn't even have the time to be nervous beforehand. It was felt good to see kids though.
Friday was a full day of "classroom preparation" but since I don't have one classroom, I share 5 different ones I live in the workrooms at the two different schools and will move around on carts. I spent the morning at one school meeting with teachers to plan our first 9 weeks and to continue working on things for the first day of school. After lunch I went over to the other high school and had a meeting with the math department and talked with a few of the teachers there. I ended up staying until 6pm working on different things for the first day of school. It was super productive and felt good.
Today I went school supply shopping and got materials for my classrooms. I finished preparing a few things and made some sugar cookies (from a box from Wegmans!). It felt like a semi-productive day, despite not doing quite as much as I hoped for.
I'm still feeling overwhelmed but also know that I still have a whole week before students come. Physically my body is still adjusting to a school schedule of waking up early but that should become normal this week. Emotionally I'm still struggling with being alone most of the time and trying to figure out how to overcome that. I know as school starts and I have a routine that will get easier but right now it is difficult.
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