I first noticed the vigorous head nods, perhaps reflexive and a part of a standard listening pose, or maybe not. Turns out what I was seeing was the canary in the mine.
Did I ever mention that the most troublesome people group in education is NOT the kids? Had my departmental meeting today. BOOM! What do you get when you give a high-strung (and insecure) pit bull caffeine and a task to perform in concert WITH other (not necessarily shy and retiring) dogs? CRASH!!! You really don't want to know, trust me.
And I will move on...to the highlights:
The principal embarrassed me in front of the staff with a story of how she wished she had a camera to capture my face when she first showed me my class;
I met more funny, experienced, helpful and nice co-workers;
A few of those co-workers seemed genuinely pleased with my neurotic efforts to decorate my room, which was quite nice.
Despite the challenges, the departmental meeting DID yield a product, though it is still in development.
Did I mention that the first day of school has long been a source of bittersweet euphoria for me? Though every summer I mourned the incremental shortening of days as of June 22, everything from pencil sharpeners to new packs of pens made me downright giddy. It still does! This time I will actually KNOW what the teacher is like--the anticipation of which used to keep me awake on First Day Eve--but that brings little comfort under the inevitable scrutiny of 60-odd pairs of eyeballs. YIKES. N-E-way...
Now BACK to focusing on the First Day Prep for the other students in my household, for we are many. More from the trenches later.
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