In-Service Blues

Oh the in-service blues, how loudly I sing you. I feel like the last few days have run me ragged leaving me with the feeling that this week has been both super long and not long enough. I know that so many of my colleagues feel the same way. Meetings on top of meetings, and then trying to handle my classroom. I promise, I'll post a before and after picture of my classroom. I'm at that point where I just want to be done.

However, there are some really exciting things. For example, my classroom is coming together. I love that so many of my dearest dreams are coming to fruition; that includes my dreams of how I wanted my classroom to look. Now, I still have a super ugly, semi-unusable chalkboard along my back wall. In contrast though I have four large "whiteboards" and hopefully soon a working projector and doc cam. I have my pencils and other supplies all lined up. Along with turn in baskets and some of the other nerdy paraphernalia that teachers put into their rooms. I don't have a lot of wall decorations, but I know that will come.

I am so incredibly excited about the team I get to work with. There are four of us in my department, and while I only got to meet one very briefly (lucky lady is on maternity leave for the beginning of the year craziness), I am still so excited. We get along well, have a lot of fun ideas about what to do with students and curriculum. Plus, who doesn't like to have friends/ colleagues who you can not only bounce ideas off of but also joke around with? As tired and incredibly nervous as I am, I am trying to cling to that excitement I hold for this new year.

Alright, I leave with what part of my "to-do" pile looked like yesterday: