My First Week

Today, Friday, August 19, 2011, marks the official end of my first week working at Quest Academy! We didn't have students this week, but we still had a lot of work to do.

First of all, coming out here to teach has been fun and overwhelming. It sort of feels like I've been playing little league all of my life, and then suddenly I got drafted into the majors. It's a feeling of "Whoo hoo!" mixed with "Crap. I'm not as good as I thought I was."

One thing that was fun this week is that I discovered being an Education major in college was really like taking a foreign language. I discovered this when, at orientation, our presenter said something along the lines of this:

"Please be sure to use your AIMSWeb and Dibbles to put your students in the appropriate RtI Tier. If they stay in the third Tier for a number of weeks they may be considered LD or EI and you'll have to help with their IEP's or 504's. You need to make sure to differentiate your common core-based instruction to ensure they're ready for the SAT10's and the CRT's. Oh, and please label your lesson plans with the appropriate standards. Example: L.8.12. Don't forget your daily RtI interventions!"

Of course they didn't explain what any of this meant, but I wanted to jump out of my seat and say, "HA! I understood everything you said! I SPEAK EDUCATION!!!!" A college professor would have sloooooooooowed that down and explained everything that could potentially be confusing. In my new job, though, I'm just expected to know all of that stuff. The really fun part is that I DO!!! I would be really lost if I didn't...ha ha. It's good to know that my years in college were worth something.

A weird part of my new job is that my middle school teacher team is a lot older than me. I work primarily with three other teachers, and they all have at least two kids and could probably be my parents. They treat me like an equal (I mean, duh. We're co-workers), but it's hard for me to call them by their first names. I feel like I should be calling them "Mr." and "Mrs." But now I'm ONE OF THEM! WHAAAAAAAT?? It's a very bizarre feeling. It felt even more bizarre when one of them came in and confided in me about her recent divorce and how she's been feeling about it. I tried to be understanding, but I felt like screaming, "AH! I'm only 22! I'M NOT MATURE ENOUGH FOR THIS!" They seem pretty great, though, and I think it will be fun to work with them.

Today the principal bought everyone breakfast to celebrate the end of our first week. Hooray! We went out to a fancy restaurant and spent taxpayer's money on "bonding time." I could get used to this job. I'm setting up a dinner in September for all of the teachers who are new to the school, and I invited the principal because I figured she might want to get to know us better. She said, "Yeah! I'll pay!" I tried to explain that I wasn't asking her to PAY for everyone's dinner, but rather I just wanted to invite her to join us, but she said, "You guys can't pay for your own social event! That's crazy! Of course I'm going to pay for it! And let's go out to eat every month!" Again, I could get used to this.

Last night was parents' night, and I got to meet a lot of my students and their parents. It was really fun! Here are a few highlights:

1. One parent gave me a bottle of wine, saying, "You're going to need this." HA HA!

2. A girl came in after all the parents were gone and said, "Hi Mrs. Webb! Just so you know, I'm a really great artist. Like, REALLY great. And I'm also really good at reading and writing. Oh, and also math." I told her that I was glad she was going to be such a great student, and she said, "Yeah. And if you want proof that I'm a great artist, here it is!" She then proceeded to whip a long brown thing out of her back pocket. I tried to be impressed, but I didn't know what it was. I asked, and she said, "It's a Harry Potter wand, of course! I sanded it myself AND painted it. Now I'm pretty much Hermione." I told her that she is a very accomplished artist.

3. A mom came in and said, "Can I brag on my son?" I responded with "Sure," even though the son was next to her looking very awkward and embarrassed. She said, "Well, last year he won a NATIONAL essay competition! He's a fabulous writer!" I mentioned that that was very impressive, and I would love to take a look at the essay sometime. She immediately said, "Great! I keep a copy in my wallet!" I'm sorry, you keep a copy of your son's award winning essay in your WALLET? Folded up next to the dollar bills? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I only laugh because if I was a mom I would so fully do the same thing, even if it is a tad ridiculous.

All in all, I think this could shape up to be a very good year. Students come Monday! EEEEEK!