Saturday, July 15, 2006

What have I done?

[Yawn!]
What, is it July already? How long have I been asleep? Since June 5? Wow, I must be Mr. C Van Winkle over here!

Seriously, though. My busy-ness continues unabated... a 10 page paper due on Tuesday, the wife going out of town for a conference most of next week, 2 young 'uns to take care of, and, oh, I forgot to mention: a brand new job! After 10 years in the same district, I'm moving on; I'll be the new assistant principal at a junoir high school in a district neighboring my old one. I'll also be teaching one period/day, so in addition to the new responsibilities, new district proceedures, new school personnel, new kids, I may have a new teaching curriculum to learn.

To refer to the title of this post again, What have I done?

I'm just a little nervous about all of this, but at the same time I'm excited about the possibilities. My new school is higher-performing than my last (an 843 API opposed to 703), which takes a lot of the pressure to acheive off, but adds new "keep it up, make it better" kinds of pressure. The chance to connect with kids on a new, different level is really exciting, but will I have time? How do I do it? Many things to think about...

And, throwing still another twist into the situation, I'm not the only member of the C family household to have a new job; my wife, who has been an assistant principal in the same district where I used to work (along with my sister and her husband... we owned that place!) is a newly-appointed principal, with all of its incumbent worries.

We're in for an exciting year!

UPDATE:
The little woman departed this afternoon for her conference (with some tears: it's her first time away from the kids for more than 2 nights), and the kids promptly tore the living room apart and made a fort of the couch cushions. I'm on page 5 of my 10-page paper, with 2 more days to work on it.
Fun stuff, huh?

UPDATE 2:
And no, it didn't hurt when my soul was ripped from my body as I signed my contract going over to the "other side!" :-)

3 comments:

Dan Edwards said...

Hey, Congrats on becoming an administrator....if that is what you want. As Metallica crooned in KING NOTHING, "Careful what you wish, you just might get it"....

It is cool that you can still teach too....an administator being in the classroom is good, in the eyes of many teachers.....you'll KNOW what we are dealing with.

Have fun with your paper and being full time D+M ! It can be a special time to bond with your kids and it is amusing (at least to me), to see the expressions on my wife's face when she hears about such things as her children's diet while she was away, things they got to do that they may not have normally got to do.....etc. What class will you be teaching? (Still in History/Social Studies?)

Jim Connolly said...

Thanks, Polski.
You know, it really is what I want. I've had a couple of rough years in the classroom, and need to find something different before I become the kind of teacher I hate: bitter, burned out, and taking it out on kids. While I have no illusions that being an adminstrator is easier than teaching, it's a different kind of work, which is something I'm looking forward to.
The classroom part of my new job is great for the credibility factor, and for the connection to kids. As for what I'll be teaching, I'm not sure. My credential is history, but I may have to do something else, depending on scheduling and what I can get HOUSEE'd for.
I'm having a lot of fun with the "Mr. Mom" bit so far. We spent the afternoon at a birthday party, so dinner was pretty much chips and cake. Oh, yeah, Mom will be so proud! On the other hand, I did make them clean up the living room fort before bed!

"Ms. Cornelius" said...

Going over to the Dark Side? How appropriate, then, is my choice for Movie Madness Monday this week?

Just don't give in to your anger....

Congratulations!

I felt the same when when I moved from the middle school to the high school. I just needed something different.