Flamingo Fabulous

So I have never been the teacher that is in love with their class on day one. The first few weeks of school I am mostly just trying to remember why I picked this profession and filling my shopping cart with large bottles of wine. You know, the ones that are so big they have to add a handle to the bottle? Yep. So I generally don't do much blogging and/or blog reading during the month of September because I don't really want to read everyone else's stories of sunshine and butterflies and mostly because I don't want to complain. And lets face it-- listening to me complain would be a big downer. Because I know that by mid October the kinks will be worked out, the kids will be settled into the routine, and I can finally start enjoying my job. I have a rough road ahead of me this year, but I can already start to see the light at the end of the tunnel that is paperwork and kids who are not used to spending a full day at school.

So I'm not going to say much about my class for a while. But I will reflect on the whole moving to a new school thing.

I know I'm not the only one to move schools. I've seen it mentioned on many blogs I read. But either those people are having an easier time with it or there is some unspoken blogging rule about not complaining about things like that because I haven't seen much written about other people's transitions to new buildings. Well we all know I am a reckless rule-breaker so lets get on with it:

1. I feel like a brand. spanking. new. teacher. again. I completely underestimated how unsettling making this change would be. Maybe its because I've only been at one other school so I've never had to consider that there are different ways of doing things but wow am I out of sorts here.
2. I knew leaving my team would be hard, but I didn't adequately prepare myself. My new team is lovely. Very nice supportive ladies. They answer all my questions and don't patronize me because I'm new. I already feel valued as I am the go-to girl for all things Promethean. BUT... They aren't my ladies. We don't have inside jokes, and I don't know their threshold for my inappropriate behavior yet. Mostly I miss the laughter. It takes time to build these kinds of relationships, I know.
3. School-wide procedures. There are 3,692,301 of them and I am starting all over. "They can bring their water bottles to specials? I have to sign up for detention duty?? Second graders use agendas? Wait, whats the difference between this award and that one? You mean I have to keep track and pass out all their lunch cards and library cards? Who do I email to ask about ..." You get the idea.
4. Resources. Where are they? How the heck do I teach guided reading without whiteboards, and magnetic letters, and I have to ration my copy paper???? In this respect, I went from one extreme to the other. At my old school, we had so many resources we didn't know what to do with it all. It packed every inch of our rooms. I was happy to be getting away from all that STUFF. But there are things I need and they aren't available :(. I am also used to getting at least $500 to spend on classroom resources (construction paper, books, instructional materials, etc.). The teachers at my new school are happy to get $50.

Sigh. It's a completely different world. And there are things that are way better than before, and things I don't like, and then things I haven't quite made up my mind about yet. Overall, I don't regret making the decision to leave.  I'll be back when I have my feet under me and more positive things to say.