Week 1 and another birthday

The first week back to school is always intense.  This was no exception.  I sent equipment flying out the door willy nilly, learned how to use a different laminator, poster maker and letter cutter.  I'm now the goddess of the school's internal email as well as the website.  I've made some new allies in the faculty, I made one pretty angry and I found one that I'd just as soon never see again, but I undoubtedly will.

We had open house across two nights.  I took a bunch of photos and will be putting them on the website, hopefully tomorrow morning.  I met a few kids looking just about as scared as I felt.  I still remember meeting and talking to my first kid at the last middle school, who also looked as scared as I felt.  So William, you're my new first kid, and we're both gonna get through this.

I have an extra day of pre-planning, so I'll be firing up the news room on Monday.  I'm out of laminate and poster maker paper now, so won't be doing so much of that.  We have a new bookkeeper now, so I can order some stuff.  When I got to school on Friday the power was off, which meant the a/c was down until it could be re-set.  Not fun in August.  It got pretty hot in there, but by the time open house started, it was liveable.

We watched two videos this week, one a TED talk that I had seen somewhere before.  Another a You Tube video about a kid from Mississippi.  Both very inspirational.  And I kept watching the kids and parents at the open house.  Our kids may come from some dire circumstances, but they're not reluctant to be at school.  They just have their own agenda and their own lives and we need to find a way to merge their agenda with ours and help them to follow their dreams, not our pre-conceived notions of what their dreams are.

It was T's birthday yesterday. He turned six.  We had a cookout and swim party for him today that took up most of the day.  But it was fun.  I did spend one afternoon this week sewing for about an hour.  I just needed to feel I accomplished something concrete.  Almost finished quilting my Florida quilt.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get some website updating done tomorrow and then finish up the Florida quilt.

Let the games begin.

p.s. A friend of mine told me today that she was cleaning out her 16 year old's closet last week and they found a little quilt I had made for him ten years ago or so. It was a simple little thing made of whole cloth, a piece that had roads on it so he could drive his matchbox cars on it. She suggested they return it to me so the grandkids could play with it. He told her he loved it and wanted to keep it. I'm touched. Sixteen year olds are not known for their sentimentality. e

New media specialist training

Today was new media specialist training.  It was a full day of circulation system, budget, ordering, email, and other things we'll need to know for day to day operation of the media center.  The trainer wrote the book, literally, and went through the book they gave us which looks like a very complete step-by-step. She seems to be a very, very dedicated high school media specialist who does it all and pretty much devotes her life to it.  I have to admit, I need more balance than that.  By the time I left, I felt like my brain was going to explode.

Tomorrow Linda and I will hit the beach and a quilt shop or two.  I need a dunking in salt water.

TIP and a birthday

On Day 4 of new teacher orientation, the last thing we did was assemble for a meeting to let us know what else is expected as new teachers to the county.  There's a whole checklist of courses that must be taken within two years and signed off by your administrator.  And they said to go to the professional development site and start registering, because the classes fill up early.  They're not kidding.  I did not look at the site until Saturday and by that time most of the classes for this quarter -- through November -- were filled.

Classes are offered in the evenings, from 5:30 to 8 pm or on Saturdays.  They do pay you for the classes.  I managed to register for two classes, one of them is two Saturdays in September, the other is one Saturday in September.  So I'll be giving up most Saturdays in September.  Ironic that the first year Michael does not have to teach on Saturday I'm having to fill my Saturdays with training.  One of many ironies this year.

Still, as I told a friend the other day, the numerous trainings I've been to and the welcoming attitude of everyone I've encountered in my school and department has helped me to go from being mostly terrified and a bit excited to being mostly excited and a bit terrified.

One thing I've decided to do to maintain my sanity is continue to attend yoga classes with my teacher from PMS.  She's teaching at Saint Leo U on Monday and Thursday evenings.  So I'm going to join the power yoga class on Mondays at 5:30.  Several of my friends from former classes have said they'll attend that one to, so I'll still have contact with BJ, Lori and Linda, who have been my closest friends at PMS.  That's a relief.

I worked on a Halloween quilt this week and finished the top.  I need to make a back for it, and at Kevin's suggestion, am going to display it at the Necronomicon art show.  I need to research how to do that.  Tike really liked it and wants one to decorate his house too.  How can I refuse that?  And I have plenty of material left over for that.  I'll get some batting this week and get it quilted.  Pictures soon.

We celebrated my birthday yesterday at Applebees.  Mom gave me some money to buy clothes for school and Michael, my dearest husband, gave me a new ipod and traded ipads with me.  The ipod is blue and 32 G.  It is the new E2L2, and I just moved my whole E2L2 profile to it.  It includes "find my ipod' which I immediately turned on.  And comes with the Nike fitness program, which I'll get set up and try using when I walk.  I depend on my ipod for so much, more than my phone can handle.  More music, more books, more audio books.  It's nice to have a large working ipod again.  I ordered new cases for the ipod and ipad this morning.  The ipad case is bright yellow, like my new school's colors, and I have another Moonbase Alpha sticker I can put on it.

Day three of new teacher training.  The morning was mostly taken up by a meeting with the district mucky mucks.  One interesting statistic was that since they began doing these new teacher orientations, and began using the Gates grant to train new teachers, the retention rate in the county has gone from 75% to 94% after the end of the first year.  The training certainly makes you mindful of what is needed in the classroom.  I wonder if this kind of support had been available, would I have managed to finish my education degree the first time around.  Hmm... probably not.  I think I gave up before I would have gotten this far.  But the support being given at the training is impressive.  If it continues, I think it should make us all better teachers, whether we have the knack for it or not.

Today we talked about the classroom environment, both facilities and attitude.  How to make the classroom a supported place, not a confrontational place.  I liked the suggestion of giving choices rather than reprimands.  "You can choose to give me the cell phone or put in in your pocket for the rest of the period."

I also signed up for the educational foundation's payroll deduction.  I always supported the fund at the previous school so I signed up for the same amount.  There were a couple of premiums for doing that, including a voucher for free school supplies and a nice polo shirt.  And I'm already used to doing the donation.  I'll have to look into when and where I need to go to get the school supplies.

The other JMS teachers are as eager as I do find out about the school and get started.  One more day of training.

On the sewing front, I had the chance to work a bit on the Halloween quilt.  Hopefully by this weekend, it'll be all put together.  I'm going to my dad's tomorrow.  I think I'll take the sewing machine again.

L has an interview at my old school tomorrow for the media clerk position.  I'd been told someone already had the job, but they called her today and asked her to interview tomorrow.  We'll see what happens.

Day two of New Teacher Orientation.  The first day was cut short because the high school where the training was held had no air conditioning, so I had the chance to join a leadership meeting at JMS for a portion of the day.  I was able to place an update on the web page because of that.  I really want to completely revamp the website, and I have a couple of ideas rolling around in my head.  Hopefully by start of school, they will gel into place.  We had the chance to begin planning the fall parent night.  We're going to do a talent show to try to bring in some people.  It's always tough to get people to come out to a parent night.

So anyway, New Teacher Orientation.  They have us divided up by school, so I'm with the new teachers from three middle schools, including my own.  There are seven of us from JMS.  The teachers are working through the info for the teacher observations.  It's a very thorough rubric.  And they're modeling best practices while doing it.  I find the training very encouraging and uplifting.  Much different from any trainings in my former county.  It's very positive.  They're also answering questions we have about how things are done here.  All the trainings I've had this summer have been very worthwhile.  I've come to avoid trainings in the past.  But these have been really good.  Has my attitude changed?  Or are these really better trainings?

I really like my new co-workers.  I know the school has had a problem with retaining good teachers.  I hope we can change the culture and get some good teachers to stay and help our kids learn.

Sunday, Sunday

Another day of off and on rain.  Haven't seen a summer like this in decades.

We went to see Wolverine in the morning.  Marvel seems to have hit its stride with their movies.  They are very much like the comic books we used to read.  Action packed, exciting, a bit of a plot that doesn't get in the way of the action.  It was a bit loud, but I really enjoyed the train scene and the Japanese locations.  And Hugh Jackman is always easy to look at.

In the afternoon, I finished redoing Kevin's quilt.  It's a bit different from my usual quilt since it was a remake, and by Kevin's request, it has a very high loft, more like a duvet than a quilt.  He chose the fabrics, there are tiny musical notes on the white part, so the quilt should now be named "Whale Song".  

Tomorrow is day 1 of four days of new teacher orientation.  My principal is also doing a planning day for the leadership team tomorrow, which I would have been attending if I didn't have to be a new teacher.  Ironically, in one of the classes I attended last week, they lined us up by experience.  I was third in experience, even though I haven't yet spent a school day in a media center in the county.  My heart and prayers will be with the JMS leadership team.  I hope they come up with some terrific plans.  I'm ready to go to work.

My new school is an "F" school

After 16 years as media specialist at a nice comfy media center in a small town in central Florida, I was cast out.  I didn't do anything wrong, but the county didn't want media specialists any more.  My school had a mixed history with grades, from C to B to C to B.  I liked it there.  I liked the people I worked with.  I liked the kids.  But when the county had to go through yet another round of cuts, I had to leave.  It broke my heart.
But I didn't go to graduate school just for the fun.  Although it was fun.  I'm a librarian.  It's what I've always wanted to be.  So when I found out I wasn't going to be able to stay, I started applying for other jobs.  And I was offered a new job as a media specialist at a different school in a different county.  The county I actually live in.  It's closer to home.  It's more money.  It's a newer school.  It's a similar population, with high poverty.

Yesterday school grades came out.  My new school got an "F".  My old school got a "D".  It doesn't matter whether the state changes the rules every year.  It doesn't matter whether the kids care what grade their school gets.  Grades for schools are a fact of life.

Now I need to figure out what I can do to help my new school improve.  I need to be the best media specialist I can be.

I had intended to dust this blog off and talk about various fiber projects.  And I do intend to talk about fiber too.  It is my other passion.  But my kids need me.  And I haven't even met them yet.