Letting off steam

I was going to post about politics in schools, but I feel like I've dealt with so much politics over the past two days, I am ready to give it a rest. Instead, I'm just going to blog about my last three days.

Monday, we met our new school Superintendent who is determined to put our school back on track. He has a lot of ideas about how to make things work and revamp things to make our school appealing to parents and children. Enough said.

Later that morning, we head back to school for a Staff meeting. We discussed changes and new procedures, met new people, and talked about our summer vacation. In the afternoon, we broke into groups to work on the ACSIP plan for our school. I somehow forgot that I am the "chair" of the Math department. Do you ever feel like your sinking with a lot of people around you, but you have no idea who to ask for help? You don't want people to know that you have no idea what you are doing; you'd rather just sink or swim. I swam, and got stronger the more I swam.

Yesterday morning, I went to a Literacy PD. Truthfully, yesterday was so busy, I'm not really sure what I learned in the Literacy PD. I guess it just wasn't very helpful. I did drag out a new resource that I am excited to be using. :)

After lunch, I headed to a Math PD. A very interesting PD that focused on the last year and beyond of CGI. Basically, it was a "what do you need help with?" type of PD where we determined what was learned. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to put some of the new ideas into my lessons.

After a small break with a friend at Starbucks to discuss next year's trip to London, I headed to a Rep Council meeting. You see, I am the Representative for my school for the "union." This is very new to me, and I was caught very unaware of the procedures/protocols/politics of how everything is ran. Let me tell you, I now know what it is like to be thrown under a bus. I also learned how to get up, dust myself off, and keep going.

So that brings us to today. Lead a PD this morning (first time every!), spoke to the entire staff about issues and concerns brought to my attention by the "union" and tried to convince people to join, and then had to meet with the principal and fill him in on the changes the Math department decided to make to the ACSIP plan. I now see teaching as so much more than just kids in a classroom. 

I will be meeting new students tomorrow evening at our school's "meet and greet." I will be seeing a few familiar student and parent faces as well. I am very excited to see the familiar faces and get their opinion as to how the classroom looks compared to last year. It feels to me like tomorrow will be one of the easier parts of my job.