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.