For those of you who actually read my blog, I owe you a big apology. I actually have not posted in a very long time because I forgot my password. Funny on some level I'm sure, but very frustrating for me. I think it might have been due to the tons of excitement over the past months. Since my last entry Christopher came home from Iraq and came home to visit, Troy came home from Iraq (oh the stories there!!), I started a new school year in a new school with a new principal and Jeremy and Harris have deployed. It has been an emotional roller coaster the past months.
Where to begin? I guess at the beginning of the adventures. While I was in Alaska, Christopher returned to Fort Drum, New York from Iraq. He was stuck there for 30 days before returning home to Texas for 30 days of leave. While I was waiting for him to come home, Jeremy and Harris were in Fort Knox, Kentucky from late July to late September and I started a new school year.
I am having an amazing school year this year! We have a brand new beautiful school (pictures on my FaceBook), a new principal and my class schedule is awesome. I am teaching 3 classes of honors 8th grade English, 2 classes of honors 7th grade English and one remedial reading class. I am also department lead for ELA (English/Language Arts). Our new building is two stories and I have a window! I my view is a green pasture with grazing cows. It is relaxing and gorgeous! My room is actually very chilly which is a wonderful change from the previous sweatshops I have been in over the past three years (three different classrooms in the same building!). My kiddos are pretty awesome, too. I love being able to teach something and they get it the first (or sometimes second) time I present it. My remedial class is a huge challenge, but some days the only way to get through that class is to remember that my conference period is right after it and I get a small break.
My principal is amazingly positive and supportive this year. I was on the verge of quitting education all together after the past two years I had at the junior high with our previous principal. I was always getting "in trouble" with her for things I didn't do or for something she heard from someone else that I had said. Some of my friends who had worked with our new pirncipal at another campus asked me to hang on for one more year so that I could experience her leadership abilities. It was a hard choice, but I also decided that after six years and three classrooms in the old (at least 30 year-old) building, I deserved at least one year in the new building. Our principal has been nothing short of incredible so far this year. During inservice she made everyone feel welcome and we actually were looking forward to all of the changes she was planning for our campus.
My favorite story so far is happened the second or third Friday of school. Every morning our principal comes on the intercom after the first bell of the day and presents the pledges and the moment of silence after which she completes the daily announcements. This particular morning she goes through the process with her usual cheery cadence, but at the end she pauses and changes her tone. She then proceeds with the following:
"I have heard through MySpace and texting that today is 7th grade jump day (where 8th graders terrorize and harrass the 7th graders). I just want you to know that nothing will be happening to any one today because if any one is going to jump any one on my campus, it will be me."
My class of 8th graders were stunned into silence. A grand task for that class! I had to turn my back to them due to the wave of laughter that came over me. My co-workers expressed later they had the same reaction. We love our principal! She stands her ground and the kids and the staff respect her.
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