This is it! The beginning of my fortieth year of teaching, most of which has been in the field of Early Childhood Education. Yet another new school. I am cautiously optimistic that this move will be a good one.
- I am convinced that the train-wreck that was last year is the cause of me recently being diagnosed with high blood pressure. There were things happening there that I had never experienced in my long career.
- Cameras in the classroom.
- No custodian on site (we had to clean after meals, messes in the restrooms, vomit, used condoms off the playground...).
- No meal prep person for a good part of the year, so my paras and I had to serve the meals.
- Internet issues because our location was not "on the system," meaning that in order to fix anything on our district-issued laptops, IT had to take them to a building that was on the system.
- Not having access to some of the online tools the school district was requiring me to use.
- Being asked to do other things that were outside of anything ever written in a teaching contract, only to have that documentation have no bearing whatsoever, so it was a complete waste of my time and energy.
- Not having common teaching tools like pencil sharpeners, a cutting board, die cuts-things that would make life easier.
- A bullet shot through a classroom window, after hours, with that bullet being found on a child's desk. No one from the district even came to see how staff members were doing after that incident.
- And the assessing! I barely had time to teach, I was so busy assessing! Good Lord! They're three and four years old! Let them play! Let them be little! Kids are more than just a data point of one moment in time. I understand the need for assessing. I do! That being said, I don't think it's fair to assess them on something I haven't had time to teach because I'm so busy assessing. It's a vicious circle!
I understand that it sounds like I'm complaining, and maybe I am. However, in all of my years of teaching, I have never experienced anything close to what last school year was. The saving grace was most definitely the students and their families! I was told that there was a particular adult family member that I would never get through to. At our end of the school year home visit, we were hugging a crying. This goes back to the mountain I choose to die on: Teaching is all about relationships and family engagement!
This school year already feels like a breath of fresh air. I'm in the same district, but now building: Ross Signature Music Elementary School. Did you hear me say "Music?" Yay! At our staff development meeting, before school started, there was talk about an all-school musical! Say what?!?
My para basically taught the class last year due to a revolving door of guest teachers, so she has been tremendous help! The team of preschool teachers and their paras are passionate about little people and love to have fun! What?!? Fun while teaching?!?! The building is HUGE! There are 500+ students, grades PreK-5th. The thought process about this large school is two schools within a school. That means an assistant principal and support staff for grades Prek-2nd and the same for 3rd through 5th grade. It's genius!
I no longer have a class of three and four year-olds, only four year-olds. The students are all developmentally in the same ballpark. Many of them have had previous preschool experience. They know how to sit and listen to a story. I know it's only been two days, but I am hopeful. We had an amazing turnout at Back-to-School Night. I think that our principal was impressed! The home visits, before school started, helped to begin fostering positive family relationships. It is my prayer that I am able to get my groove back and have an amazing year!
