Day 1 of 180 days of school:
1. First day of school - so by the time I even encounter new students at 7:30 I am sweating.
2. We have a student who is a "wanderer." He feels the need to leave wherever he is to find me to make sure he knows what is going on and what is going to happen next. The other teachers that are supposed to be watching him seem to think its ok for him to leave. Come on!
3. My best friend/teammate is out in maternity leave - and I never realized how well her and I worked together until now. There were unsaid things that just happened between the two if us that I forget about and now the substitute freaks out and is ready to cry about. I am so so so so so happy for her but I also miss her and would never want to work with anyone else. You don't truly miss what you have until it's gone right?
4. We have a "clinger" or another term is a "helicopter" parent. She can't bring herself to leave her child. I tell her very kindly that it is time for him to become an independent learner and show her where she can pick him up at 1:00. I come back later and she ends up being with him ALL DAY. We know you love them and sometimes it can be harder for the parent than the actual child. It's OK to LET GO.
5. Lunch check in - checking in all the students at the computer for both classes, then helping them get through the salad bar and opening all their lunches = 10 minutes for me to eat.
6. It's 12:15 and I have not sat down once since 6:30 - yep my feet are killing me!
7. Dismissal - this is probably the worst part of the day. Making sure all students are where they need to go at the end of the day. Kindergarteners have no idea where they need to go and with who, so if you haven't asked when they were dropped off in the morning, you will have a hard time in the afternoon. There is also always one child who you'll misplace, and of course we did that today. We ran around the building twice only to call the family (who only spoke Spanish) to find out she and her brother walked home without telling us. She was supposed to be in the after-school program so grandma was going to bring her back. We then had to communicate with the office and with the director of the after-school program to let them know we contacted the family, found the children and this is what was going to happen.
8. After all the students are gone all I want to do is sit down and decompress but now we need to sort out all the tons of supplies, and put them away (which we never really have room for).
9. Even when I think I am done and I can relax I need to meet with the sub and discuss how the day went. She looks like she is ready to cry again so we talk about how it went, and what we could do tomorrow to make it better. There are also people that were not in to help that I thought would be there...which leads me to my next thing...
10. After my meeting with the sub I need to go find people that could have offered her support today and weren't there. I talk with a couple and they agree to check in many times the rest of the week. I talk with the one person that should have been there and she argues with me that she needs to get testing done (deadline is in 2 weeks). Sorry, but right now - these first couple days - are WAY more important than your testing that can get done later this week or next week. Even though she agrees to stop in tomorrow she seems miffed and upset that I interrupted her planning - tough shit, this is what we and the students need.
Ok so that's all I can think of for today - but please remember it is the first day - this is just a little insight into what happens, and it's not even half of what I could tell you, but now I need to decompress and GO TO BED!
We will see what tomorrow brings :)
