School Jitters? Not this year!

First day of school, and our principal read us a story called First Day Jitters, by Julie Danneburg and Judith Dufour Love.

It was a cute story about a girl who is very anxious about going to school. Her dad has trouble getting her out of bed... it's her first day going to a new school. She doesn't know anyone there. The principal of the new school greets her warmly as she steps out of her car, and walks her to her classroom where she meets all of .... her students!

It was hilarious... all the while a story about a teacher's first day at a new school, told as though she were a kid who wasn't ready to go. You never see the girl's face until the end when the students meet her. We all laughed!

I hope that when you click on the link above it will take you to an online reader where you can read about the story, the author, and see a couple of the pages from the story. A must read for all teachers, and for students. Older students, like 3rd-5th, I think will appreciate it, too.

Yes, our principal, after introducing all the new teachers (including myself), and reviewing highlights of the policies and procedures, the teacher handbook, dress code (for staff and students), grading, out of classroom duties, field trips, etc. etc., read us a story. As a matter of fact, she wasn't bad at reading out loud. I had no trouble imagining her reading to her own young children once, and now to her grandchildren. She has an expressive, gentle reading voice.

Did I mention she introduced all the new teachers? I didn't count them at the time we were introduced and all stood in one great line along the length of the cafeteria floor, but in my head I can see us all now, and I'd say there were about fifteen of us newbies in the building. A couple of us were formerly retired and returning, and some like me with a few years experience.  Some were brand new teachers, entering for their first year.  One was from Virginia, one from Iowa, various parts of NC... and me, from just down the road.

As she called our names, one by one we stood up and stepped forward. The AP (assistant principal) gave each of us a balloon with the word Welcome! on it, and then our principal asked us to tell something about ourselves.

What would I say? I wondered as I waited for her to call my name, listening to what the others were saying. Will I mention my former career before I became a teacher? Should I mention my family, my dogs, and how long I've lived in this fair state? How I came into teaching? Should I tell them why I came to their school, or what I was looking for? Should I give a brief rundown of my strengths, or be modest and make light of some embarassing event? Do I make them laugh? Nah, probably not that... I'm not good at improv.

Well, there I am standing at the front of the room, beside the principal, staring out at all those new faces.... new teachers to work with. I didn't know more than four of them, and had met a few more last week. One woman I remembered from twenty-eight years ago, when we were nursing mothers in LaLeche League! She had homeschooled her kids, and now they are all grown, and here she is. It's a small world!

I took a deep breath, and smiled at them all. I told them where I came from, that I had been teaching in EC for seven years, that I started teaching relatively late in life, but that I was thrilled to be part of their EC department, and looked forward to working with them, their students, and supporting them in the classroom.

Nothing spectacular, nothing memorable, but it was a start.

There were door prizes... I won a plant basket! I think I'll find a special nook for it in my new classroom.

Another EC teacher and I attempted to get a schedule made up for all of our grades... we have grades K-5 between us... and lots of kids... more than I had to serve last year. Today, right now, I don't know how it's going to look two weeks from now, but somehow we aregoing to work it out.

Maybe tomorrow I can move into my classroom. My car is packed and ready to go, but the classroom isn't ready for me to move into.

And now I've got to end this entry because I wanted to be in bed by 11:00pm and it looks like I've missed the deadline. I will have to work on that next week, though.

It's been a great day at school, meeting the teachers, sharing in their excitement, planning the schedule, and even making a brief trip to the post office during lunch break.... once the kids come back, there will be no running to the post office during lunch break.

Thanks for visiting!