Twas the Night Before School

and all through the apartment, the teacher was wondering where summer went.

Although it feels much much to early to be back at school, I've actually been moving into my new school for the past week and a half. My new school may be only 3 miles from my old one, but so far it's been a world of difference. We came back early for Professional Development sessions and have had hours in the afternoon available to work with the team and set up the classroom. I'm so excited to be in a professional environment that is supportive and encouraging of the teaching style I want to develop.

Take a peek in my room!

Welcome to Room 113!

This is probably the cleanest this will ever be...

Books! Look at all those books! My team has been so wonderful in passing along great texts for Read Alouds and for  independent reading. We still need books -- check out my donors choose project here http://www.donorschoose.org/ms.astrue

After 3 years of teaching, I'm able to repurpose materials from my old classroom setup. This will be my first time with tables instead of desks -- the cubbies used to be my shelves for Guided Reading. Yeah Target Itso brand for having interchangeable parts

I'm pretty nervous but excited. I've already met 3 of my students at Meet the Teacher night. My roster now currently has 17. 17! That's six fewer than last year. Trust me, that's a significant change. I'm going out of town this weekend to see 2 of my most favorite people in the world get married so I'm trying to get ready for the first day AND next week (tomorrow is like a soft opening -- half day and then return again on the 5th).

And now for the shameless plug. I currently have a project on Donors Choose and time is running out of time for funding! Check it out http://www.donorschoose.org/ms.astrue


Here's to hoping that the number 13 is lucky this year!

Life Update: Moving to Fiji

There have been a lot of changes this summer to the point where I have no idea what I've told to different people. I feel like I've spent all summer packing boxes, unpacking boxes, moving furniture, getting on tiny plane after tiny plane. Last summer I took graduate classes and completed a practicum for my master's degree and I think I had more energy than I do now.

If you'd asked me in April what life would look like, I couldn't have told you. I was miserable at my current job, not having any luck finding another one, and it wasn't going to matter anyway because my lease was going to be up this summer and did not have a place to live in Nashville. Needless to say, those few weeks between the standardized tests and the end of the school year were crazy. I do not know how I would have been able to pack up my apartment and my classroom without my mom flying down to help me out.

After a lot of thought, discussion, hesitation, reconsideration, and anxiety, I chose to stay at my placement school for the coming school year. We have a new principal that I had the chance to meet at the end of the year who is changing things up. Based on the failing scores, the school was moved into the "Innovation Zone" No one really has been able to describe it consistently, but the best way to think of it is the district allowing failing schools to actually make changes to what their schools and teachers can provide without having to go through all the red tape (and the extra money to back those efforts). After talking with the new principal in June, I came back for training a few weeks ago ready to make the switch to 3rd grade Reading. Instead, I found myself listed as teaching 2nd grade...

...AND 1st grade.

After some serious soul searching and consulting with my favorite lower elementary teachers, I'm coming around to teaching the wee ones. There wasn't a confusion on the staff list -- I'll be teaching a combined 1st and 2nd grade classroom. Talk about a shift! I'm still wrapping my head around what that will actually look like. I've taught the past 2 years with about 30 percent of my class being English Language Learners (ELL/ESL). This year, about 30-40 percent of my class received Exceptional Education services -- a whole different department of people, paperwork, and range of teaching strategies. Luckily, I've got a wonderful co-teacher from the EE department.

So Fiji?

Part of the changes at the school have included rearranging classroom assignments. My new classroom is one of 4 classrooms ( mine, a 2/3 combined class, Special Education, Pre-K and Speech services) located in a wing of the building that is about a 5 minute walk to any other classroom. 4 classes. That's it. Most of the new hires didn't even realize there were classrooms in that wing. While I like not having to go upstairs anymore, it's been a bit isolated. For the last few years, it's been referred to as the "Special Education Hall". With all the changes, I figured we needed some rebranding. So here goes.

My new classroom is in Fiji -- like Fiji, we are a far-off island that everyone wants to go to because it is that amazing.

Tomorrow is our first day of school. Wish me luck!

Keeping up with the Joneses

And we're officially back in business! Metro Nashville schools welcomed back almost 80,000 students on Thursday for the first day of school (albeit a half one at that). The week leading up to it was a blur of faculty meetings and room preparation, so much so that on Wednesday night I felt that familar "uh oh, what's tomorrow going to be like feeling?" that had disappeared over the summer.

Even as a second year teacher, there's a lot to keep track of. We have grown in size yet again! In the 2009-2010 school year, my school had about 260 kids enrolled. Last year, we hovered +/- about 10 from 500 for most of the year. On the first day of school this year, we had 650 students in the building with another 50 or so on the roll but who were not present (many people don't seem to understand that that first half day is so critical). The building itself looks the same, but the people within it look a bit different.

Changes thus far...

• A new principal. I cannot begin to describe how excited I am to be working under her. I think every conversation we had as a staff managed to find its way back to "How can we best help the students? What do we as teachers need to accomplish this?"
• An assistant principal! Numbers, not need, determine whether or not a school has an AP. Not only am I glad that responsibilities can be shared, I also have really enjoyed all my interactions with my AP
• Coaches--Last year, we had a Reading Coach. This year, we have a (new) Reading Coach, a Numeracy Coach, AND three additional Coaches on leave from their schools to come and provide support to the 46 untenured teachers.
• Inclusion -- this year, I will be co-teaching for 2 hours a day with our ELL teacher. I will also have another hour of the day where an Exceptional Ed teacher will be in the room. For someone who felt really alone in my room last year, the door this year is going to be pretty open with inclusion and 6 official observations.
• New staff! - We've grown in student enrollment to the point where we have 6 teachers on each grade level. It's been a challenge to try and remember names, faces, and assigned positions as we've welcomed people into the building over the course of the summer. It will be confusing -- we now have several Smiths and confusing number of Joneses working in the building (at least 4...)

I'm a bit nervous about this upcoming year because I know I will be challenged to push myself to make my kids more successful. Adding several experienced teachers to my team has made me really see how much work I have to do to become a better teacher.  However, this year I feel prepped with the tools at my school to make those changes. After a shoddy relationship with my PD this past year, I look forward to a much more effective and supportive relationship with my new MTLD (Talk about overwhelming changes. My school had a ton, and then TFA went and changed things on me!)

I'll save my thoughts on my new kids until I meet all of them on Monday, but here's a preview.

I have a feeling I will very quickly be obsessed with them :)

The Adventures of Ms. Astronaut

One full week of school down, and I can tell you this. Despite all technical difficulties, I am already in love with all 24 little (well, some not so little) bodies that sit in my classroom. We're still working on listening and following directions, especially "Stop Talking". I did feel a bit like one of the videos we watched over the summer about a first day of school where it was chaos.

This week, the fire alarm has gone off several times, there have been workmen drilling into the concrete on either side of my classroom, there have been workmen drilling in my classroom during one of my scheduled class times (read aloud in the hallway for the win), I'm still a few textsbooks short, I haven't called all my parents because I either don't have numbers yet or my phone/internet doesn't work, and since my SmartBoard was installed I have no working board with which to teach since the projector was not installed at the same time.

My first day of school was overwhelming, in part because of one child who arrived late, was added to my list, was new to school, and just downright confusing. I had no idea how to help this child or what to do with him. As it turns out, he was never supposed to be in my class but rather a much smaller class for children with specific needs. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the teachers and administrators who popped in to check on me and my class those first few days until things got settled.

Even now, I can't recall all of the ridiculous things that have happened. I've already confiscated things, but none more frequently than Kool-Aid. The kids bring in packets, lick their fingers, and stick it in the powder. It makes a ridiculous mess and then they get all sticky. The other day a child had an open packet in her uniform pocket and it got wet at the water fountain. I was working with another student when I hear, "uh Ms. Astronaut? I have a problem"I turned and all I saw was this wet red splotch just above her hip and my heart dropped. OMG, how on Earth is this child so bloody???!!? After discovering the cause, I gave my students a talking to about not bringing in Kool-Aid anymore.

I'm still in survival mode, trying to lesson plan while gauging where my kids are at. After one week I can tell you, it's quite a spread. I have all the ELL kids for the grade in my class as well, which is another challenge I wasn't thinking about over the summer. In theory, we're getting more teachers at our school so my class size *might* go down, which would be incredibly nice for getting these kids some more one on one attention. Until then, I'm overplanning until my brain hurts. Hopefully at some point in the next few weeks, I can resume having some kind of life again. We got paid (woot!) yesterday, and I went out to dinner and a movie with friends to celebrate a birthday. It took a little time, but we all finally managed to talk about something other than our kids for a while. It's also nice every now and again to not be Ms. (or Mrs.) Astronaut.