Day One

Today was the first day of my new job. It went pretty well, I think. I am the reading teacher for 8 first graders and 12 second graders at a small elementary school in rural New Jersey (not an oxymoron). I meet with the lower of the two second-grade groups, then the first-grade (high level) group, then the higher-level second-grade group.

Pros
It's a foot in the door at a new school district.
The kids seem pretty well-behaved.
I have some autonomy with my reading groups.
The hours are good.

Cons
One of the teachers I have to work with seems a bit tetchy.
The reading program is scripted, so there's really not a lot of me in my teaching.
Half-day work isn't going to further our life goals much, if at all.

All in all, I think it's going to be good. One thing is certain, I need to pick up the pace with my first two groups. Familiarity will breed comfort and efficiency. So, it should be flowing smoothly along in a week or so. Then the principal will give me some more to do in my remaining time.

In other news, one of my best friends nearly set Bacon School (where I used to teach) on fire. The sun was refracting just so through a glass fishbowl on her desk. She melted half a tape dispenser before she discovered the problem. It was one of those "Do you smell something funny?" "Yeah, like maybe something burning." sorts of things. The plastic was smoking and smoldering pretty badly when she found it. Good thing it had been blocking the nearby box of tissues from the solar death ray. Of course, if it'd happened on a Friday afternoon or when she was otherwise in a hurry to get out of the building ... my guess is they'd all be having a few days off while they dealt with the water and smoke damage.

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