In-Service and Meet-the-Teacher

Yesterday was my first day of teacher in-service. It was fantastic to meet with all the teachers and discuss our passion for learning with one another. I am very pleased with the administration and their efforts to make this a productive and successful school year for our kids. I believe we have a wonderful principal who is consistently on our side and looking out for our needs, as well as the students' needs.

I also received a wonderful phone call yesterday. Apparently a professional businesswoman's group in Pottowatomie County wants to sponsor a first year teacher and provide her with funds to set up her classroom. And guess who they chose?! Me! I talked with a woman later that afternoon who said the group would be meeting Tues. night to decide how much money they were alloting me. She said she'd call later this week and let me know what they decide. I am very thankful for this wonderful blessing!'

To say that today was a very long day would be an understatement! In-service, though helpful, seemed to last forever. Once it was finally 1:00pm, it was back to finishing up the room for Meet-the-Teacher. With the help of my parents, I was ready to go by 5:00pm. Before Meet-the-Teacher night began, I met with some of the other teachers and took a prayer walk around the school. We stopped in all the hallways and prayed for those teachers, staff, and students who would be working and learning in those classrooms each day. It was wonderful to see how many sisters in Christ I have at my school. We had about 25 come and pray together. God will be ever-present in the halls of our school and I couldn't be happier about that!

I was very pleased with my parent turnout tonight. I had 15 out of 19 families come to meet me and see the new classroom. It was very encouraging to see so many parents take interest in their child's classroom and teacher. I think parent involvement will be pretty great in my class. Everything went very smoothly. There were, of course, those times I had to run across the hall and check about a certain procedure or two but all in all, it was a good evening.

Tomorrow brings more professional development meetings and more classroom setup and curriculum planning. I know that I will probably never get it all done but such is life. I am trying to push the nerves aside and remember I completed my education program successfully and my school hired me for a reason. I have been taught well and have a great support of faculty and friends who I can turn to for advice and assistance. I will survive this year and it will be fantastic! Only one more day until it begins...

It's Official.

One week from today I will officially become responsible for educating the minds of 18 19 wonderful students! It still seems a bit surreal to me that I am old enough to be teaching, especially at the elementary school I attended. But, OSU has done a wonderful job helping me become as prepared as possible for the school year ahead.

I met with my teaching team today to discuss curriculum and decorate the 5th grade hall. I feel very blessed to be working with such wonderful ladies. I believe I will benefit from having both a seasoned teacher and one who has been teaching just a couple years longer than myself. I am also grateful to work with a fellow Westwood ExCEL teacher. We have very similar views on classroom management and inquiry learning which makes working together a breeze.

I am still trying to finish organizing and decorating my room. Every day I come into my room feeling overwhelmed by all the work left to do and I leave each evening feeling even more overwhelmed than when I came. However, I wouldn't change it for the world. I love what I do and believe in what I do. I know it will just take some time and experience for those overwhelming feels to lessen. So far, my walls are done, my layout is complete, and my reading area is almost ready. I have some bulletin boards ready to go, but others still need work. I know during the upcoming weekend and the beginning of next week I will be living in my room! But I know I'll have it all together and ready to go for Meet-the-Teacher night on Tuesday!