Back to School

It's third period during our Back to School Night, so I've got a quick ten minutes in between class periods.

I met some of my English students (may 1/3 of them?) during the first period block and four of my Drama kids. The drama kids were quite the range - from a boy with skater hair who immediately put his head down on the desk and answered me with grunts, much to his dad's chagrin, to a vivacious girl who had one of the leads in the musical last year and was very excited to be in the class. Man, I love teens!

Speech is next, which I am the most nervous about. I've been cramming like crazy in between meetings this week, trying to learn all of the terminology and protocols. It's a very, very beloved program here. The class is huge (by Mountain Town High School standards, anyway. It's 35 kids, average at Dead President Junior High), and some of the students have even taken the class before.

I've been nervous about tonight for what may be a silly reason - I'm just not that used to educated, involved parents. At both of my former schools

(Oop! Interruption! I just met one of my assitants (MTHS' name for T.A.s). She's been assigned to me during my planning period. The counseling secretary raved about her, Ruth recommended her, and she seems delightful. Yay! Anyway...)

At both of my former schools, the parents just weren't that involved. Heck, at Small Town Middle School, less than 2% of parents in the district had a college degree of any kind. So, I've been intimidated all week by the thought of parents who are highly involved, who care, and who speak English.

On the other hand, and this is certainly a result of the former, I'm also delighting in being at a school that feels so normal. There are many things that make MTHS unique, which I'll elaborate on in a later post, but mostly it's a school that isn't so consumed by low test scores and high-need kids.

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The bell rang just as I was typing that last sentence, and the classroom immediately filled up. The kids seem great, and the parent seem supportive, even of me. One of the moms who lingered stayed just to tell me that "We're excited to have you and we'll do anything to support you." How great is that?

So, yeah. I'm in a good mood, I'm feeling more confident about this whole thing, and I will definitely post more later when I have a bit more time sleep - ah, who am I kidding? I'll just squeeze it in sometime.