The First Week Of School... Teacher Version.

Look carefully!   Tell me what you see...

 Last week was my first week of school.   I wish I had known that...   Or at least had been better prepared.    I was told it was a "Meet and Greet" for both sides.  I was to get a feel for the students and they were supposed to get a feel for me.    And together....  We were going to learn a little bit about each other and how the process works.  

Well,  I learned a LOT!   ( And not all of it "good")   First,   What I learned is that several of the tid bits of advice that I received were not 100% accurate....  for me.    Classes started technically on Wednesday.   (Freshmen Tuesday)   And I was ready for that.   

But then Thursday arrived.   I was not "technically" ready for that....  But I managed to pull out a few things to make the time survivable. 

Then Friday arrived....    I had nothing!    My classes were all to begin on Monday of this coming week.   I had no idea I would be teaching a class at all this last week.    So I did ( could) not move my lesson plans down one day (Or three)   How I survived is anyone's guess.  ( With a lot of help from God... I'm sure) 

Learned:   I have to learn Google Classroom FAST!   And it is such a simple program that a trained monkey can learn it in half an hour by  randomly hitting the keyboard with a banana!  ( Do you detect the sarcasm in my prose?)  Mostly, I find it to be like a disorganized desk top with all of your important papers and files buried under MORE papers and files.   And the more you attempt to organize it,  the deeper things become buried!  

So...  I need help.

I was able to chat with Kathy this morning and she generously offered  her services to me tomorrow after school.    She told me she was in the same boat when they moved over to goggle classroom, so she knows the feeling well.   I have been trying to avoid leaning on too many people since I know they all have their own hills to climb and lessons to plan.   Holding my hand and spoon feeding me is probably not high on their priority list.   

That being said...   I have reached the state where asking for help is unavoidable. And side note:  the Staff have been WONDERFUL in offering help and advice.  Hopefully, I will still be around long enough next week to update the issues.

Other than that,  I met the kids!   Not terrible.   They all have potential. ( I will revise that statement later, I'm sure.)  And I'm hoping things will begin to work out as the year progresses.    And hopefully,  I will gain some skill and experience in the process.   To be the Best Teacher I can be.  (Or at least good enough to help prepare these kids for the future....) 

This weekend has been mostly about recovery.... For ME!   I have tried to avoid looking at my planbook so I don't mess with it more than I need to.   I have been obsessing over these first few lesson plans for nearly a month now!    I tend to obsess with things until I destroy them, so to avoid such a catastrophe,  I did some sidewalk chalking.  

Nothing special.   I'm actually not even very impressed with it.  But I have not been able to do any chalk art since July!  And it was a nice distraction from my current plight.  

Tomorrow I go back to war!   Well,   not technically, war...   but an internal struggle, nonetheless.  I pray that this last week was a gut check and now begins the veteran phase of the battle.   One of Murphy's Law of Warfare is that "The best laid plans never survive first contact intact."  I'm hoping that as I adjust my plans,  I can get a better feel for what works instead of relearning what doesn't.   I'm hoping I learned that lesson already. 

Time, at moments, seems to stand still.   And other times,   it flies by when you are not teaching.    I simply have to figure out how to make every second count.