I've been a high school teacher for a little over two weeks now. There are many, many things I miss about my job in Ottawa (like having my own room, having oodles of pens and clips and various office supplies, sharing the same 100ish students with the 3 teachers right next to me, knowing all the teachers in the building, having administrators that I could find. . .) but I am liking this okay so far. I think most of my apprehension is just dealing with change - to be doing my old job would be sooooo much easier because I know what to do. I have two teachers that are very helpful with each of my two preps; I don't have a lot of planning to do, so that is huge. Organizing is very difficult at the moment because I travel between three different rooms and have no two classes in the same room. I am really enjoying the math; Geometry is my favorite branch, so I am thrilled. The maturity of the students is a nice change, they get my sense of humor a bit better than the 7th graders. I'm working out the kinks, but I think this could be a job that I really love. Too early to tell (because I am overwhelmed with all the details). Ask me in couple months (or maybe next year.)
The high point of the day: during last block, a student brought a football to class (most of them carry everything with them all day), and I took it to lock up in the closet during class. When I gave it back to him after class, he asked me to throw it, and I said (obviously), "you can't throw a ball in the classroom! But. . . I can throw a football." He didn't believe me, so I said I'd show him outside after school. So, he and four other students came out to watch me. It is funny how being a girl simply makes this noteworthy. They were so impressed.
Emily
