FINALLY working in my room

Even though I've been in my classroom for the last three days, today is the first day that I'm actually able to work in it. Which I'm really regretting, now that I see how much there is to do (and how little time I have to do it in--I have to drive two hours to graduate from college tomorrow, and my family is coming back up with me the next day to bring my furniture up SO I DON'T HAVE TO SLEEP ON THE FLOOR....so I don't have a whole lot of time for working on classroom things...). But, I'm glad to finally be working on it.

I walked into my room today and the entire custodial staff was sitting at my tables eating lunch. Which I think is great--I have no problem with that. Everyone has told me that FACS teachers especially need to make good friends with the custodians and maintenance--because WE NEED THEM. So I said hi to everyone and then asked the main custodian for a little help whenever she was done eating because I had some questions for her. I asked her what I should do about my nasty-smelling sink because I thought it was the disposal. She said "If I had my way, I'd get rid of them entirely!" I said "Me too!! I see no reason to have them! I want to ask the Principal what my budget is and put in an order to have them taken out." And then she said, "Oh, if that's alright with you, I'll put in a work order today and have them changed out as soon as possible." AND IT WON'T EVEN HAVE TO COME OUT OF MY BUDGET. Angel. She's an angel. I'm super happy about that.

I cleaned my sinks today. First I used comet. Then I found some stainless steel cleaner--hello! Why didn't I start with that? It's good stuff. So if you need to clean a stainless steel sink...go straight for the steel cleaner. Then I emptied ALL of my cupboards out. The teacher who just retired has been here for 20+ years and has accumulated SO MUCH stuff. I have 4 kitchens, and found 11 sets of measuring cups in those kitchens. That's a lot. My task now is to decide what I want in each kitchen and then put the rest in storage (and throw it away at the end of the year!!!). I'm really lucky because I worked in the foods lab in college for a year, so I'm really familiar with what each kitchen needs. (Not 11 sets of measuring cups). When I finalize my list tonight or tomorrow, I'll post it, in hopes that it will be helpful to someone else.

I also spoke with the Principal today. He's really great. He expressed a lot of confidence in me and my ability to do good things here. Every day I'm becoming more and more confident that I will be able to be a good teacher. My first term will be terribly rough, I'm sure. But I will succeed. Anyways, if you're a teacher, your Principal should be one of the first people you talk to for help. I told him "I'm sure I'm about to have a lot of stupid questions, bear with me," but now we're on the same page.

I'm excited. This is going to be good. I'm doing the right thing. Countdown to school: a week and a half. Tomorrow I'm heading to my COLLEGE GRADUATION!!! After 5 years, it's about time. And in this economy, I count myself very lucky to be graduating with a job. And a good job at that.

~The Teacher