Wow!

It's been 2 weeks, now. Things are actually going well. I've seen each class 4 or 5 times. We're in to content now. I've still got new students trickling in, and there are still a lot that I've yet to see, but we're moving ahead.

We've had a much better start than last year, and I'm positive about this year. The new high school made a difference. Even though they only took 9th graders from us, 500 less bodies is 500 less bodies. A smaller population makes a for more relaxed school.

And We're Off!

It's our third day with students. It's our third day with the A/B Plus schedule, so this is my second day with these students.

I've spent the past two day playing Getting To Know Each Other. Today and tomorrow I'll teach them how I teach. We won't start substantial academics until Monday. Late registration still has the Library packed, so I'm just giving the laggards a chance.

I'll start implementing the new Tardy policy today, which means I'll lock the door on the last bell. I expect that in 2 weeks we will see a whole new level of promptness.

Set up

My wife came by my classroom this afternoon and helped me set it up, to the tune of Sugarland's new CD, "Love on the Inside". I'm not much of a country fan, I've just got a couple of old Lyle Lovett CDs, but I do like this album.

I'd been worrying and / or ignoring the layout for my room this year. I'd spent part of the day giving a new dept. member a tour, introducing her to people and showing her things like the copy room and our dept. supply room. Otherwise, I was just working on notes and grumbling about still not having a network connection. Elena came in about 3 PM, took a look around, and said, "Let's take care of this." We worked about two hours and got everything done. Now it's just lesson plans.

And It's Almost Over

We go back on Wednesday. We get students the following Tuesday. (sigh)

I've been into my classroom a few times, trying to set up. I got new furniture over the summer. I actually got more than I expected in the form of bookcases and storage cabinets. I wanted to arrange the student desks differently from last year, but I've got a half dozen more than I had and there just isn't room. I need those desks, though, since I have sophomores this year. My teacher desk is up on 2X4's because it's so small that that's the only way my knees will fit under it. And I'm only 6'3". Still, it's wonderful to have all these nice, clean, unblemished desks.

On the downside, I have no network connection. They've been doing a major remodel on the wing next to our portables, and we won't be reconnected until the day we start. I've got a whole bunch of stuff on the server and no access to it. I've just been working off of thumb drives. And I have to blog from home. I'm sitting on our front porch right now with my laptop and a cup of coffee, occasionally glancing at the roadrunner hunting lizards in the community area across the street. Man, he's fast!

I'm going to our church's Men's Retreat this weekend. It centered around meditation, so I'll be mellow on Monday.