Well, even though I really did not want this summer to end (as crazy as it was, not working is so fun!), it did and school started.
I'm teaching 7th grade math at West McDowell Middle School in McDowell County in Marion, NC. Know where any of that is? ha!
It's a small (around 600 students) middle school in the western part of the state in a very small town. While it is such a different world up here, I am learning to let go of some of my detailed oriented, type a ways and just go with the flow.
At Carrington, our workdays were filled with meetings. When workdays started, we hit the ground running and didn't slow down until the end of the school year. There were always 100 things to do it seemed like. When workdays started here, we had one meeting from 8-11 the first day, were asked to attend a few other meetings (all that lasted less than 30 minutes) when we got the chance to. Say what? You're not giving me a schedule of meetings?!
Our meetings at Carrington were detail heavy, especially about the first ten days of school. Attendance is crucial in a school the size of Carrington because student numbers determine your positions and we needed all the positions we could get. If your enrollment isn't what was predicted, you can lose positions even after the year starts. With 1200 students, it was imperative to discuss transitions (transitions happen all day long at Carrington), especially dismissal procedures to ensure buses got out on time.
I didn't realize how much I appreciated those meetings until this year. I didn't even realize I missed them until the night before the first day...and throughout the day the first day. I laid in bed the night before school started and thought, "WE DIDN'T HAVE A MEETING ABOUT ATTENDANCE!" (Thankfully, we had an email in our inbox the first morning explaining it) Then, during my last class, I thought, "I have no clue how dismissal works here." A bell rang and I literally looked at my kids and said, "I have no idea what that bell means, but let me find out."
Because buses are shared in Durham among schools that get out at different times, it is SO important that students know what bus to get on at the end of the day, even on the first day. We spent a lot of time discussing transportation all throughout the first day. Not so much here. So, instead of buses leaving at 3:15 like they're supposed to, they didn't leave until 3:45.
And, can you believe it wasn't a big deal!
The administrators pulled the little ones in who were crying about not knowing what bus to get on and worried they would get left, called and confirmed their bus and bus stop, and sent them on their way.
Maybe I'll learn a thing two from all this laid backness! :)
Welcome to West McDowell Middle School
It takes me right at 30 minutes to get there, but the drive is 70 mph and so pretty!
The green wall is growing on me. It adds a lot of color and brightness to the room.
Already working hard!
The first day of school students have to listen to teachers share a lot of expectations procedures. So, I like to give students an opportunity to share their expectations for the year on the second day. I found this cool activity on Pinterest and decided to go with it. It may have almost depleted my post-it note collection, but it was fun. Students went to each poster and put their answer to the question.
They seemed to really enjoy it even if they put really vague answers or just put what all of their friends put. It also got them up and out of their seats...grogginess was setting in hard on day 2, even for me! Getting up early isn't so fun after two months of sleeping all the time.
Overall, we had a good first week. My kids, so far, seem like a great bunch! Yes, things are different than in the "big" city of Durham, but I might can get used to this slower paced life.
A quick look around my classroom:
As always, I ask student what they would post on social media about their first day of school. The drawings always make me smile!
^^^ I feel ya, buddy!
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