I'm getting more and more excited about moving. I can't quite believe that I am really going to be moving back to Portland, and I am hoping that I won't have that horrible thing happen where you build things up and then they aren't nearly as good as they were supposed to be. My biggest fear is that after such a wonderful experience (not all wonderful, obviously) teaching out here, that teaching at my new school will be horrible.
Some new things that I found out about my new school worry me, but there were some good things. The worst thing that I found out about is my classroom. I am on an IEP team. At this school they have two kinds of teams--IEP and ELL. Basically, this is so you can concentrate on making acommodations for just one kind of kid, although obviously if you are on an ELL team you are dealing with a number of different languages (but I suppose the strategies are the same? I've only had two ELL students) and there are all kinds of reasons for kids to be on an IEP. But anyway...I will be on an IEP team. Well, I don't know if this is typical of all of the English teachers, but I am in one of those rooms where it is separated from another room by a sliding partition. I will be connected with the IEP teacher, who I will work closely with and sometimes team teach one class with. Yes, I found out that one of my classes is made up entirely of IEP students and lower level students. This freaks me out. First of all, I hate the idea of being separated by only a sliding partition. My students can get loud, and usually it isn't because they are not working--actually usually they are engaged and working and talking to each other, but if you have a big class the noise level is sometimes pretty bad. I don't want to have to worry about the teacher in the other room getting annoyed with the noise level. I also don't want my class to be disturbed if his class is being noisy, either. Supposedly the guy is supposed to be a great person that I will like a lot, so I guess that is something. The second thing is that I have had a class with all IEP kids and lower level kids in the past, and it is HARD. It will be nice to have the extra support of a special ed teacher to plan and all of that with, but it will still probably be hard. Third, I am scared to death of the idea of sometimes team teaching with this guy. I will admit it--I'm a little bit of a control freak about my classroom, and I'm not sure how I will do with that. I also have that constant fear that everyone will discover that I'm really just a crappy teacher. So there's that issue. But you know, I think I will do okay, so I just need to keep telling myself that.
I'm also scared to be teaching something brand new again, but I've done that every year (except for the constant of always teaching senior English). I will be teaching English, an elective of my choice (?!!?! what should I do?), and this thing that sounds like homeroom, so shouldn't be too hard. It is silent reading two days, a study hall one day, and then two days of some sort of curriculum that our team will plan together. So that should be much easier as far as preps--sort of like 2 1/2 preps, instead of 4. We're on a modified block, so don't ask me what my schedule will look like on a daily basis. Maybe I will find out soon.
One GREAT thing is that he said they had hired 19 new teachers, many of whom are brand new out of school! I am hoping that somehow they will all want to be my friend and I will have a great social life. I have already started having my fantasies of attending happy hour after work with all of these new teachers. (With my luck they will dismiss me as being too old to want to hang out). I am going to try to be outgoing and friendly to everyone so they will want to be my friend, and not think I am a snob.
I still am really liking my principal. He is very positive and upbeat about everything, and he seems to think I am very cool, so that's a great way to start things off.
I had two of my former students come and mow my lawn, and I've seen a few others around town. It's really hitting me how much I will miss seeing them around. They are just so sweet, and I'm appreciating the small town thing more lately. When Cassandra came to visit I think she commented about how friendly everyone is. The people at the grocery store and around town, and the doctor and dentist are just all so genuinely nice to me. So that's one thing that I will miss.
I think my new landlady has a total crush on Justin, which is just hilarious. She is about 50, but she has already made two comments about how cute he is. The last time he wasn't there, and she told me not to tell him, but of course I did immediately.
Justin was here this weekend and we just relaxed, ate a lot of junk food, and hung out. We did rent Gangs of New York which I wouldn't really recommend. It was okay but nothing too special, in my opinion. The cute boy factor was not in effect, either, because Leo had this long dirty hair and face so he didn't look good.
I'm not going to have HBO in my new place, because I only have it now because of a special package deal. I am so sad about that. Oh well.
Well, I suppose I better get packing. That's a lie, though, I am avoiding it.
