Go and Read this Now

I just read this blog and wowza it is a good one.

so, I recommend going and reading this now.

http://borderland.northernattitude.org/2007/08/05/like-cranky-talk-show-hosts/

900 kids

I went to my new school today to check it out.  I haven’t been back since I was interviewed and I was curious.  So, after some technology training (Mantra: This wasn’t working this morning, so you may have to watch me do it), I decided to drive by.  I don’t have a security badge and I was hoping that someone would be there and would believe my story and let me in.

I was lucky, one of the crew let me in.  I wandered around a bit and ran into two teachers, neither of whom are on my team.  They had news about the portables: they haven’t arrived. No one knows when they will arrive.  This means that the teachers who will move into them haven’t moved yet.  For me, this means that I can’t move into the school because I will be moving into one of the displaced teacher’s classrooms.  My garage is stuffed with school supplies that are waiting to be moved.  I am in a more enviable position than many of the teachers as I don’t have anyone waiting on me!

There will be 900 students this year.  900. I can’t get over it.

I do not envy my principal this management job: organizing the school’s day. I am not a schedule person, subjects and activities ebb and flow. Unfortunately, lunch can not ebb and flow, it must march forward. I can’t fathom how he will organize 900 students into lunch, PE, art, music and recess.

The school is a Title I school, which means that a certain percentage of students live at or below the poverty line.  A large percentage of them are second language learners.  Many of them have learning differences or behavior difficulties.  These kids are the ones who most need small, supportive communities. 

I worry about this.  Will my new school prove to be such an environment in spite of the chaos that 900 students inevitably bring?