Whew!

Three weeks on the job, three days with kids on campus, and I'm having a great time!

I've been busy, learning my new responsibilities, getting to know the staff and the kids, spending a lot of time on supervision duty, but I've enjoyed every minute. Even dealing with those parents (you know the ones!) has been a new and exciting challenge for me.

And I think that is the key... new and exciting challenges. I was, as those who have been visiting my blog for a while now may know, at the end of my productive time in the classroom. I wanted to leave before I became toxic to everyone around me, and this position has provided an opportunity to refresh and remember the reasons I got into education in the first place. And, boy, have I had some new experiences! One big one: helping Down Syndrome students, one of whom has a leg cast due to surgery and is in a wheelchair, use the bathroom.

Not that everything has been fun and games, of course. Parents in the community of my new school are inclined towards micromanagement; in fact, the first call I took on this job was a parent wanting to know her child's schedule before they were distributed so she could be sure the child was "in the right teachers' classes." This was an everyday, run-of-the-mill 8th grader. I could easily understand this level of interference if this was a special needs student, but in this case, not so much.

But overall my experience so far has been very positive. I'm having a great time learning my new role and getting to know the kids and staff, and feel good about what I'm doing.