First Sweaty Day of School

I woke up at 5:40, after having woken up a couple of times in the night drenched in sweat. The thermostat was set much higher than my body prefers, apparently.

I got ready and ate my pre-made cinnamon apple refrigerator oatmeal. I got to school and tried to get my class ready.

My grandma arrived before advisory started to help me with the first day’s work.

The hallways and my classroom were really hot. My grandma even pointed it out first thing in the morning.

Advisory was OK. I felt kind of bad because I did not sufficiently explain the lunch schedule to the seventh graders before they left. But I think they were mostly OK.

I had way more kids this year walking into the wrong classes and getting totally mixed up than I remember having last year.

I have first period prep on both days. I’d prefer second, since I can’t do much in first (I have nothing to grade since I’ve had no classes yet). It’s also less motivating because I can’t think of things I could or should be doing. I don’t feel the pressure, really.

In second period, my first English class of the day, I was dripping sweat. I’m sure that’s a lovely image for your heads, but on top of the nerves of a first class and hoping you have everything in order, and trying to get kids in their right seats, and trying to add new kids to the seating chart you already made, and dealing with the ones who say they need to be moved up front, and changing the names to their nicknames or preferred names, and handing out all the papers you need to hand out, and all the other chaos of the first day of school, it was freaking HOT.

But 2A went OK. We got through our stuff. We didn’t get to the “getting to know you” things, so maybe next class we’ll get to it. The kids were quiet and attentive. You never know how the classes will be until things really get rolling.

3A was better. Then 4A was the smoothest of all the classes, naturally. I did have a class of 40 today. I am going to try my hardest to not rip on the state of Utah right now about these class sizes. But I have a young lady in each of these two classes who is not sitting in a legitimate desk.

But my grandma managed to help me a ton, getting all the file tabs taken care of and filed away, passing out and collecting items, and getting all the first day journals alphabetized. It was killing her back to be sitting all day, and I am so grateful for her help. It didn’t seem like a big deal to her, but really saved me a lot of time.

After school, my principal wanted to talk to me. Our school is doing committees this year. There are three: one for student support, one for teacher support, and one for school support. The committees are meant to do different respective things, but they all consist of teachers. I asked to be on the teacher support committee. I’m always trying to help other teachers at school. I send out emails, share all of my documents and ideas, help some with technology, try to support the new teachers in the department. I feel that teacher support is one of my strong points. So today the principal asked if I would be a co-chair on the teacher support committee!

He said that because my colleagues nominated me for the building committee last school year, he feels they respect me, feel safe talking to me, and are OK with me leading them. He said he has noticed that I put a lot of effort into communicating with the staff and sharing my work with them. He says he thinks this is partly because I am nice and friendly but also very relaxed (approachable, laid back? I can’t remember the word he used). He also added that some teachers volunteered for the position and wanted to do it, but that he had to carefully consider these positions. And even though I didn’t volunteer for it, he thought I would be the right person for the job. He said that he feels I am one of the teachers who is trying to learn and grow and improve, and that I like sharing my knowledge with others. There is a very small stipend attached. I accepted the position.

So that totally made my day even though I was sweaty and gross all day, and even though my throat and voice hurt from talking so much.

I went and got gas after work. I came home, I got changed, and was at the gym around 4:40. I did an interval session on the treadmill for about 25 minutes and ran 2.6 miles or so, burning over 300 calories. Walking into the 97 degree weather afterward made me pretty light headed.

I got home, showered, ate, and went visiting teaching. Since then I have done dishes and prepared peanut butter banana refrigerator oatmeal for tomorrow. And I typed this so that I can keep my sanity. Now I will go read scriptures and go to freaking sleep.

All in all, it was a busy, productive, tiring day.

I’m out.