Here We Go Again...

Tomorrow, I begin my ninth year of teaching English. I actually started working last week, but it never seems really until I'm eyeball to eyeball with students. Well, tomorrow it will be as real as it gets.

There are certain constants to the weekend before school starts. My "weekend" before doesn't always look identical to the previous years, but I do have certain traditions.

Back-to-School Traditions

* Cleaning out my closet. I am really hard on my clothes, so I really can only wear things for two years. Every year, the week before school starts, I go through my closet, getting rid of things that are ratty or don't fit. I have a strict policy on limiting how many clothes I keep that I may one day fit into. If I didn't, my closet would be out of control. I already have every size from 2 to 10. I got rid of all the 12's so that's something.
* Back-to-School Shopping. I am not much of a shopper, so I try to do as much shopping online as possible. This year I don't really know my size and I can't really afford the stores that I normally frequent online, so I will be going shopping today. Yesterday I did my yearly make-up run at Target. I don't wear make-up a lot, but I tend to during the first couple weeks. My make-up drawer would seriously distress most people (okay, all) I know, so this year I actually cleaned it out and organized it.
* Organizing my room and first week of lessons. Custodians tend to rearrange the furniture of classrooms after they clean them. This has never bothered me because I love rearranging my classroom. I try to make the room fit the students I have and my plans for the next couple weeks. My students will be working in pairs quite a bit so I have them sitting with a partner. The first week of lessons tend to be a little more difficult to arrange. I'm comfortable with the 2nd day on, but the first day is tricky. I really don't like to go over my rules or expectations (seriously, by 7th period the kids are DONE), but I don't really want to go over content either as kids will move classes a bunch.
* Sunday evening rituals. I have set up a certain list of rituals for the Sunday night before school starts in the vain hope that I will relax and sleep well. I rarely do sleep well, but I try. These activities include doing my nails, shaping my eyebrows, picking out my outfit for the next day, arranging my lunch, and taking an evening bath or shower. After nine years, these traditions have stayed pretty constant.

So in less than a day I will be facing students again. I'm pretty excited because I'm teaching two new subjects this year. I have a prep period again (I did not last year and it was quite exhausting), and one of my classes is a double period. All in all it will be a good year...I hope.

Just a shred of dignity please

I am back in the class room tomorrow. And back with a vengeance, if I may say.

Today, I spent a good part of my day getting prepared. I don't mean lesson planning or reading my materials. I'm not a first-year teacher.

No, today was all about preparing myself for what's about to come. I ironed all my work clothes. I painted my nails. I finally unpacked my shoes (yes, we've lived here over a month...shut it.) Em had a really good time trying on every single pair. I'm not kidding. The girl likes her shoes. She was very clear about what was "yucky" and what was "wonderful."

Today's preparations were in line with many of my activities of the last couple weeks. I took care of health stuff, cut my hair, bought some new clothes, and tossed a whole lot of old "yucky" stuff, to use Em's phrase of late.

And I feel good. I feel ready to go.

Well, mostly. I just caught a gander in the mirror and found a new friend: a nice, big red pimple. Right smack on my chin. Lovely.

Now, many of you may note that I don't have much to worry about. It is only a pimple. And I teach 15 year olds. They barely notice the people seating next to them, let alone their teachers.

Still, it's just rude. I teach 15 year olds; I don't need to look like them.

Well, I'm off to assess the situation. Hopefully it'll clear up by tomorrow. Though this is the one day a year I wear make-up, so that's not such a bad thing.

You Can't Make Me

Alternate titles for this blog: "I don't wanna," "It's not fair," "Why is the world picking on me?", and "Yes, I will cry, stomp, and pound my fists...I don't care if I'm almost 30." Yeah, that last one is a bit crazy long.

If you haven't guessed it yet, I'm talking about going back to work. I completely realize that I probably sound worse than my actual kids. But I don't care. I'm pouting. I'm almost 30. And I don't give a fig.

If you haven't clicked to anyone page yet, thank you. I don't mean to be a whiney baby (well, I don't entirely mean to), but for some reason I am not ready to go back. I don't know if it was having three weeks of vacation after summer school instead of my usual two. Or if it's the fact that I taught at my school last year--no new-school smell. Or maybe it was today's meeting.

According to my contract, my work is supposed to start next week. Yet, today I had a department meeting. All day.

It wasn't actually that bad, and it was pretty necessary. We have two new department heads, a new v.p. in charge of our department, and a new principal. Also, the end of last year was pretty tumultuous. It was good to air out some of our dirty laundry, talk about things we care about, and start to renew our focus. (It also didn't hurt to find out that my grade level did comparatively well on the standardized tests we took in May...whew!)

But then I found out I have another meeting on Thursday. All day. Ugh. And I started to feel tired, so tired.

I don't wish to miscommunicate my feelings. It is exciting to start the new year. The week of in-services before school is kind of like going to summer camp. It is cool to pick out a new outfit for the first day. I even do my make up and hair. And I still get the butterflies at meeting my new students.

But still...I don't wanna...not yet anyway. I'll get there.