I love my new job.

:)

My first day of high school.

It was 14 years ago that I entered high school as a freshman.

Today I re-entered high school, 409 miles away, and hopefully much wiser.

I had conversation with some junior and senior girls on my first day, today,
and they have no idea how much they made my day,
and how much teachers want to be accepted just as they do.
One girl asked me if I was nervous, but I realized, much to my surprise, I wasn't!
I also don't remember being nervous to start 9th grade,
and overall, I really enjoyed my high school experience as a student.

I hope I love it as much from a different perspective.

Things happening soon that make me happy:

1. Starting my new job in 12 days!
2. Seeing my in-laws Saturday, whom I haven't seen since June 20.
3. Seeing my brother-in-law, same deal.
4. Hanging out with my potential future-sister-in-law this weekend.
5. Going to see a Jars of Clay Christmas concert on December 17...only 15 minutes from my house!
6. Attending a wedding next weekend, at which I can spend time with every friend I have from church!
7. Our 5 year wedding anniversary on November 1st! [wow]
   

Things I will not miss about my job:

1. getting coughed/sneezed on DAILY
2. teaching 30 classes/over 600 kids a week
   
3. saying the same thing a million times a week because of how many kids i teach
4. not having any time to get library work done [see #2]
5. meetings...sometimes 5 days a week! [see #4]
6. giving out grades that are completely arbitrary and pointless
   
7. relying on an assistant and 15+ parent volunteers to do my job [see #4 yet again]
8. being the 'exception' at librarian meetings ie: 'this does not apply to you because you have no time to do this...' [see #2 and #4]
9. teaching only 20 min less per day than a classroom teacher [again that pesky #4!]
10. no time to co-plan [see #8]
11. no time to co-teach
12. kindergarten classes 10x/week for 40 minutes each
13. pulling my hair out every week trying to figure out what exactly to do with 2 special needs classes that come to see me [together] for 40 min, for which i have absolutely no training
14. trite conversations with people that don't really care
15. working with 4 different budgets that go through 10 different people, when all i am trying to do is buy what is needed/wanted by staff/students
16. my sore throat that has been hanging on since teaching day one this school year [see #1 and #2]
17. 'the framework for continuous improvement' which just results in even more meetings