Log September 2, 2010

As of yesterday it is clear that the summer is over and it is time to go to work. On September 7 (next Tuesday) our students will be arriving at the school for their first day. I am really looking forward to meeting all the boys and girls who will be in this second grade class, by all accounts they are a very loving group, so we will most certainly enjoy them.
Kathy has been diligently preparing the classroom and seeking names of students for the last week, and has allowed me to come and work with her as my schedule has allowed, there is so much to learn about setting up a classroom as the summer ends. I am pleased to have such a master teacher walk me through the process of setting up the room and preparing for the students. I am amazed at all the thought and energy that she is putting into making the seating for day one as workable as possible, so that we can start out the year with fewer conflicts. She considers everything she knows and can find out about the boys and girls and places them accordingly.
Our first staff meeting was also yesterday, and it was not very exciting and went well over the scheduled hour. I understand this is a rather normal occurrence, so on Wednesdays when I have staff meetings I will not be planning for an early dinner.
Our class has multiple food allergies and sensitivities (including my own gluten-free diet) so Kathy has made the decision to have no-food birthdays. For many reasons this is a good choice with such a large group of kids, but I am disappointed; being home schooled I never took a birthday treat, so I was looking forward to my birthday! I need to set the best possible example, so I will be positive about this decision.
Today was the first professional development day of the year, and I can see what a burden this requirement is for the teachers. These people came back from their summer vacations and have so much to do in preparing for the students in less than one week, but here they were stuck in a whole day of training. All this would be forgivable, but for the fact that the training was a waste of time. I went there hoping to learn something, only to have a boring lecture covering material that everyone in the room should have known already.
I am glade that I went to the professional development, because it was a good opportunity to meet a few people, go out for a nice lunch with Kathy and others. I also had a short chat with one of the other student teachers in my building, I am looking forward to seeing more of her during the semester.
This fall will be lots and lots of work, and I will know so much more on Tuesday, so stay tuned.

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