I didn't have much of a chance to perform on my own growing up, but attempted to play sports. These past few weeks I was reminded of what pre-game jitters are all about. As we wrapped up new staff inservice on day two I thought I was going to puke. I had literally just walked out of my old district that week, left all I knew professionally for the better part of a decade behind, all my sick leave (we have two young kids) behind in Sheboygan. The person who hired me had left the district the week prior. Sharing time with my new colleagues was over, now it was time to start things up. My mentors are fantastic people who know what they're doing, but not much would settle my stomach down that afternoon.
If you're a classroom teacher or library media specialist you go and start setting stuff up, getting grade books, things like that. I'm starting a new position with no direct boss. Time to coordinate data and integrate technology...1,2,3 go! No log-ins to access data, no usernames to get into our AIMSweb account yet. Where the heck do I start?
I found out quickly, like in my other two career stops, the secretaries you work with hold the knowledge, physical and virtual keys to get things going. Thank goodness for all of them! Once our wonderful colleague assured me she could get me access to NWEA and Turning Leaf I calmed down.
The other thing that was missing, other than access, were people to serve. Sure a few of the other new-bees told me they wanted SMART Boards or a Mac instead of a HP laptop. That's not really a solvable problem on Day 2 when you have no budget. First the high school principal chimed in with a request on ACT data in our area. Great! Something I know how to do and something I can wrap my brain around! That started moving things in the right direction. Then the following Monday all the other teachers showed up, so it was time to meet people, go on tours and start the school year up. What a great week it was! I had wonderful conversations with many folks, most of all the district's three AMAZING library media specialists. All of them much better in that role than I was.
Next up was creating community and staff communication pieces on the changes in state testing, and the list grew from there. A to-do list gets daunting sometimes for all of us. But I needed one to be able to feel like it was showtime. And believe me, I have one now...including starting social media communication for the district.
Year number 10 of my career, here we go!
If you're a classroom teacher or library media specialist you go and start setting stuff up, getting grade books, things like that. I'm starting a new position with no direct boss. Time to coordinate data and integrate technology...1,2,3 go! No log-ins to access data, no usernames to get into our AIMSweb account yet. Where the heck do I start?
I found out quickly, like in my other two career stops, the secretaries you work with hold the knowledge, physical and virtual keys to get things going. Thank goodness for all of them! Once our wonderful colleague assured me she could get me access to NWEA and Turning Leaf I calmed down.
The other thing that was missing, other than access, were people to serve. Sure a few of the other new-bees told me they wanted SMART Boards or a Mac instead of a HP laptop. That's not really a solvable problem on Day 2 when you have no budget. First the high school principal chimed in with a request on ACT data in our area. Great! Something I know how to do and something I can wrap my brain around! That started moving things in the right direction. Then the following Monday all the other teachers showed up, so it was time to meet people, go on tours and start the school year up. What a great week it was! I had wonderful conversations with many folks, most of all the district's three AMAZING library media specialists. All of them much better in that role than I was.
Next up was creating community and staff communication pieces on the changes in state testing, and the list grew from there. A to-do list gets daunting sometimes for all of us. But I needed one to be able to feel like it was showtime. And believe me, I have one now...including starting social media communication for the district.
Year number 10 of my career, here we go!
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