Week Two Begins!

When I finally got home on Friday night, I felt a huge sense of exhausted relief--ooh, it's over! time to relax, it's done!

Then I remembered, nope, summer vacation is all over, it's work work work for the next ten months.

I quite literally spent all day Saturday in bed, resting my knees while watching the Olympics, and taking two naps. While I freely admit I am a lazy git, even that was extreme for me. But I didn't care one whit. I'd hardly slept that week, my knees weren't working properly--clearly, I needed the rest. And it felt fabulous. I'm going to have to take relaxation time seriously from now on--with the increased pressure and workload at the new job, I shall become an aggressive rester! Ha!

This morning, while I wasn't happy to be up at 6.30 once again, went smoothly. There was no traffic, I found the school easily, and it hardly took any time at all. I felt awake and alert all day (which was most certainly not the case last week!), and the training itself was useful and interesting. We got some concrete tools and tips to stay organized and keep priorities in clear view. I definitely struggle with the self-discipline to complete tasks in a timely manner. That will be one of my goals this year--really focusing on keeping on top of administrative things like making phone calls and planning on a regular and rigorous schedule.

We've been getting introduced to the electronic aids over the last week. Talk about overwhelming--so much stuff! Different programs and tools to use for all kinds of things. Coming from a system where ALL of these things have been done by hand--by ME--it's a wonderment, it's a relief. I really think it will make my responsibilities faster and more efficient to complete, which should give me more time to concentrate on actually, you know, teaching. (Remember, for you civilians out there, teaching is the last thing on a teacher's to-do list!)

Most excitingly, we're finally getting into some specifics this week. Truly, it's a relief to get some answers and most importantly, to know we're getting solid support. That is such a huge deal to me, I'm really looking forward to having a true collaborative team and leader. To know that I'm not alone in feeling overwhelmed, to know that I don't have to create lessons and units in isolation, to know that, holy shit!, I will have materials at my disposal!, to know that other people will actively help me improve my teaching and my self-discipline.