What I learned in...

Do you remember the book What I Need To Know I learned In Kindergarten ? Well, this post is more about what I learned in the first days of school. Some good, some not so good. To get it out of the way I will begin with the not so good:

- First, our school is going through a major renovation which I believe is about 3-5 behind schedule. This led to not having all of technology up and running when school began.
- Schedules were a work in progress for several weeks.
- Laptops did not work because of blocks on students until all AUP (acceptable use policies) forms were turned in and students could be allowed to even sign into computers, much less use the Internet
- When laptops did work, the Internet went down again.
- I got bronchitis and missed a lot of school

Now for some of the good:
+ I have a greaaaat class of students! That makes up for almost all of the frustrations (except for the frustrations the students have felt about the technology)
+ We have several tech-savvy people who are willing to go above and beyond to help us fix our technology issues. We truly appreciate their help and understanding when we get very frustrated and cranky.
+ I was told about a site where you can download a free program called Blender. I have not had the time to work with it but one of my students said it is awesome. It is supposed to compare to Photoshop.
+ The culture of our school has undergone a very positive change this year. We have seven new teachers (we are still waiting for two more new teachers to come on board) and they are a very diverse group. While a few are from WV, one is from Romania, one from Peru, one from India, one from Virginia, one from China and one from Detroit, which is kind of like a foreign place to our rural students. All of the new teachers are doing a fantastic job and I believe this has given new life to the teachers that have been here a while.
+ The students have been very receptive to this diverse group of teachers and responding well to the new alternating block schedule.
+ I am now feeling much better, not well, but much better than I was.
So while there have been great frustrations about some things, the overall atmosphere of the school is hopeful and positive. To my students, write your blog about your impressions of the first weeks of school. Discuss your hopes and expectations (and maybe your fears!) about your learning in the Globaloria program this year. To fellow teachers, please comment about your experiences so far this year and...Gooooo Gloabaloria!
Squirrel!