First day of school survival skills

Alright folks, we did it! The first day of school came and went, and no one was injured. Below you will find a  list of what I did to make it through the first seven class periods of the school year.

1. SET YOUR ALARM! I made the mistake of turning the volume down on my alarm clock in the vain attempt at not waking up the husband. I set it down so low that it didn't produce any sound at all..Not a great way to start the school year, but I let it slide and moved on.

2.Choose your outfit wisely. I wore a super cute dress from Target, along with some comfy Clark's shoes and leggings. Not too funky, but enough to feel confident. Having that ready to go when I was rushing around was a comfort.

3. Keep it simple. Go over the syllabus and answer any questions. Even though it is dull and you are ready to  have fun, make sure you really get the info to them. No one likes to feel as if they have no clue on the class.

4. Social media! This year I established a twitter, blog and website. Post it everywhere. Have a contest to comment so the kids actually go to the site. This way they have it already and will be more willing to use it.

5. Try your best to get the correct nicknames or pronunciations. Duh.

6. Learn their names. Ask  as many times as you can now so that when its progress report time, you won't feel guilty. (Admit it, you've done it before.) My biggest problem is pairing names to kids who sit next to each other. Especially if they are similar---Parker and Peyton, Haley and Kaley, etc.

7. RELAX---you have 36 weeks with them. Don't try to cram everything under the sun into one class period. Keep procedures and routines for the second day. They won't remember anyway. It will also help to avoid the schedule changers from feeling too out of place.

What were your procedures that worked? I'm still surprised that it went so smoothly. I hope this is indicative of  the rest of the year.

Moving on up

This upcoming school year, I have been extremely lucky and fortunate. I am moving into an entirely new building, with new everything. I have a new administration (which rocks by the way), new students (with few exceptions), new school colors, and a new attitude.

Like a first year teacher, I am excited, nervous and eager to begin the new school year. 

I'm also overwhelmed.

Because I teach Theatre, I have many different areas under my control. Not only do I have a classroom, I have dressing rooms, make up rooms, a sewing room, a set shop, a prop shop, not to mention the stage itself. Its a daunting task to even begin. So here is my plan.

Take a little at a time.

I feel the need to organize everything perfectly for the first day of school. That is unnecessary. (A brief side note about myself--I am what you would call a fake organizer. I make it look like there is method to my madness, but in reality it is just categorized piles of stuff. I try and try, sometimes it works, sometimes it becomes a filch pit.)

I won't even use the other rooms until my first production. Which means first things first---the classroom. I'll be pinning like a madwoman trying to find ways to save space and look legit. Find it under the From Bell to Belle board.

Summer vs. the Other Nine Months

Its 10:30 a.m, and the rest of the country is hard at work, with one exception. The hardest working section of the   work force...teachers. Our days seem to have doubled in length. We get 48 hours instead of 24. We drink our morning coffee, slowly. Actually read the newspaper articles, instead of glancing at headlines.


It seems to be rewarding. Especially compared to the Other Nine Months, when chirping bluebirds become alarm clocks, and newspaper articles morph into group emails about faculty meetings. Our human forms turn into machinary,

I now present you the Robot Schedule:

• Wake up
• Determine teacher worthy outfit-Cool while adult, comfy while put together
• Throw together a lunch-More than likely grab a Lean Cuisine from the freezer
• Pretty up-Remember, you do not want to become the teacher that's let herself go.
• Kiss life partner-Don't forget this one! Will pay off later :)
• Exit home and avoid dog hair on black pants-New Olympic sport in Summer 2012
• Drive to work-Practice lesson plans, write lesson plans (no judge)
• Walk into building-obstacle course of young love, young hate, and chocolate milk
• Walk into classroom-Ahh! The serenity.
• Bell-Get to work
• Bell-Keep going
• Bell-One more time before lunch
• Bell-You are in the zone
• Lunch-When did Lean Cuisine instructions get so complex?
• Bell-Gear up energy
• Bell-Almost there
• Bell-wait for it, twenty minutes to go, five, four...
• The all to familiar line up at the door--
• Bell!!!
• Go home-Now what?

Overwhelming, isn't it? It is my new mission to tick off each of the Robot Steps and replace it with humanity. From Bell to Belle-if you will.