The First Week (+2 days)

I know it's been forever (yet again) - real life came full speed! Last week was my first week of school with real school hours and third week with students overall. General thoughts:

--30-32 kids per class is too many.

--The days often feel frenetic because we start with a staff meeting at 7am every day (with things that could easily be conveyed via email...but staff emails are very much underutilized), kids arrive at 7:15, then 2 classes at 75 minutes each with 1 75 minute break (except Tuesdays), guided reading team, lunch (2 days are lunch duty or homework detention), another class, independent study, and then a 40 minute break at the end of the day (2 days a week, this is a meeting). It's a L-O-N-G day with students and leaves little time for basic tasks such as email correspondence, photocopies, or organization, let alone planning. All of the 6th grade teachers feel overwhelmed, so I'm glad it's not just me as a new teacher. We're hoping to play around with the schedule so it's more manageable, so we'll see.

--I miss the communal environment of the staff at my old school.

--I've been planning in advance, which has been super helpful and hopefully will be sustainable. Going into each week with 3-4 lessons already planned means we have more time to exercise or have a real dinner at night! It's great! It also means early bedtimes - we were in bed before 10 often last week, which I couldn't even do when I had an hour commute last year! Speaking of...

--10 - 15 minute commute > 1 hour.

--There is a huge range of student academic ability in each class. Because there is not a cut-off or eligibility requirement for 6th grade, they feel significantly lower academically than my kids in the past, particularly with grammar (it's actually a bit scary). However, I recognize that I often feel this way in the beginning because I ended a few months ago with students who had a full year of growth.

--Making a big meal on Sunday for the week = amazing. (Last week was spinach lasagna, half of which I froze for the future, and this week is chicken pesto pasta). It's fantastic for bringing leftovers for lunch, means we're eating real food every night, and best of all, it's stress-free!

--The school is less organized and feels more top-down than I expected.

--I've grown to like the 6th grade team. It's a group of very strong women, and it has definitely felt intimidating at times, but it's gotten better and better as the weeks have gone on. Also, they came over on Friday for happy hour, and it was a lot of fun to relax as people, separate from work and work-related things. It was also fun to have people over to our apartment for the first time!

--Management is not nearly as strong as I expected, especially relative to Brooklyn East. I think it's partly because there are just so many kids in each class, but also because things are not quite as transparent for the kids. Also, parents seem to have significantly more input and say into how things go than I expected.

Overall, I feel like the transition to full time school has been a lot more painless than I thought it would be. I think this is because the short summer made it feel like this was very natural, as opposed to having a long, fantastic summer that made me dread getting back to the grind. I feel super prepared for how to approach the work, the kids, and the school, mostly because of my experience in a charter school last year and facing challenges in the Bronx. This feels like a combination of the two schools in many ways, and while I've been disappointed, I've also felt very positive about how this year. I know it will be full of ups and downs, and it will be November before I know it!

I wish I had pictures to enhance all of the text, but my camera ran out of batteries as before I could bring it to the intern picnic on the lawn of Golden Gate Park's Conservatory of Flowers on Saturday. Adam coordinated everything/everyone, and it was a fantastic afternoon. We enjoyed spending time with his co-interns outside of work-related things, especially in such a relaxed setting. Adam worked overnight on Saturday and then rallied for a day full of errands on Sunday. We're gearing up for a weekend we've been looking forward to for months - Labor Day in Coronado with the Lewkowitzes!