Ready?

Over the last few days I've had the opportunity to help Ms. Lee* set up her room as well as to meet many other teachers, see their rooms, and the general state of play before the students arrive at PSOhYes next Thursday.

First of all, it brought back great memories of helping my mom set up her classrooms when I was a kid, which I had completely forgotten. That was nice. Like the year I designed a "monster" (like a muppet character) with the name of a classical musician for each subject ("Wolfgang" was math) and made an elaborate set of labels, etc., for her third grade. She used those for years.

Anyway. Ms. Lee is experienced, and she's moving with her students to a new grade, so some niggling stuff (name tags) was mostly done but others that you wouldn't need to worry about teaching the same grade (library) needed attention. Her room was not "done." But I spent an hour making a hand-lettered "welcome" sign with everyone's name on it. Great to get back to my art-school roots!

One of the other teachers is a "rainbow geek" (self-described). Her curtains were tie-dyed rainbow spirals and all her folders and bins made rainbows all over the room. It was GREAT. That, I thought, is going to be me. I aspire to rainbow geekdom.

But on to more important matters. Ms. Lee is getting an ELMO classroom projector for the first time ever! I am going to look into ways you can use it. It's not that hard, but new equipment just days before school starts is a big challenge when you have other, new-grade-level stuff to do. This will be my project for Wednesday, setting it up; I hope Ms. Lee brings her laptop. She is getting it because the mini-school teachers are getting all new equipment. She is not getting her printer replaced, which is stressing her out because she relies on it being right in the classroom. This will be an adjustment, I can see. I hope to help her with the transition. This may mean I am running upstairs to get stuff she is printing while class is going on!

So all of this means the IT staff is completely overwhelmed. The laminating machine was out of commission both days I was there (major problem for making signs and labels) and one copier was down. There's no way they'll have time to come in and set up the ELMO. And... it's waiting for shared resources like this that can really slow down the prep process.

That said, it leaves more time for leisurely lunches, hearing about each other's vacations and catching up on news. One of our students' baby siblings is very ill and may not survive. That will be an issue for this child, and something we need to prepare for. I don't envy Ms. Lee in responding to the email she got from the child's parents about this.

I am really looking forward to meeting the students, but trying to catch up on rest before next week- my daughter is starting at a new school as well, so we're all bound to be exhausted by the end of the week!

*Not her real name

Fresh Paint, Fresh Start

I was at Bank Street the other day and pleased to discover that the stairwell had the new-school-year fresh paint smell. I love that smell, and it makes me think of warm fall days, knee socks and new school supplies, and the fact that I never got over the first day of school. Long after it ceased to be meaningful to my schedule (after I left teaching behind in my 20's but before my daughter went to school, a hiatus of about at least 15 years), I still thought about the first day of school, and got that "back to school" feeling just before Labor Day. Sometimes I'd buy myself some new pens or a notebook, just to enjoy the season.

Of course, taking classes at Bank Street did give me the opportunity to participate in "back to school" these last few years. But wait: notebooks? Pens? Wasn't I supposed to take notes on my laptop? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't- I've taken online classes with assigned youtube videos for class "readings" as well as classes with instructors who still rely on Village Copiers wayyyy too much, if you know what I mean.

And now I am about to find out what first grade is like in the 21st century. My daughter will only be in pre-K this year, so it's a preview for what first grade will be like for her, as well as what it's like for me in my new career as a teacher (hopefully teacher of first grade, my preferred age group). I will do my first student-teaching placement at PSOhYes*, as in everyone has heard of this school and it's in A Nice Part of Brooklyn (henceforth: ANPOB). To be fair, I think I live in a nice part of Brooklyn, but this is not my neighborhood school, and I hope this is enough anonymity for everyone.

Stay tuned y'all!! I will be starting next week.

Oh, and * is props to Pam Jones at Bank Street for allowing me to appropriate, without her consent, the use of "PSXXX," a la her hilarious and tragic tales of PSOhNo. Thanks, Pam.