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.