"WE REVERE TEACHERS"

  Watched the inaugural episode of Stephen Colbert's new Late Night show this week.  Best part of the show? He gave me my hook for this post: he spent the monologue crowing about his new home at CBS, the big money network, gleefully pumping the air because Superbowl 50 was going to be on HIS channel. Yes, that's it! That is how I feel at the close of my second week at my new school: I am working on the Superbowl School channel now, and it feels good. I am in the right place at the right time. On our first day, the director even reminded us "this is a school that reveres teachers." I (mentally) swooned.

how i see myself right now

   I don't really spend much time thinking about the Superbowl, but I imagine myself at the center of the kind of fanfare that accompanies it as I arrive every day. I have been visited (not observed) twice by the school director already and had a drop in during class by the principal. We can take care of business in the hall, no need for email exchanges that go on for days.  I have a department chair who always has the big picture in her head so I can deal with the nitty gritty of teaching. Another teacher in my department wants to talk about books every day and a third is calm and ignores the small stuff, a good model for me. My co-teacher is patient and unafraid to advise, thank heavens. I am the newbie, so the desks in my room are 70s puke green plastic, and teachers I don't even know are stopping by to sympathize. (I lived through the 70s: these desks are not a problem for me). I feel a bubbly laugh coming on.

  OK, I am still in panic mode-I am teaching NOTHING I have ever taught before and spent the summer in AP workshops. So no summer reflection for me, and now I am implementing on the fly. But everyone trusts me and the kids are great.  Still no printer or copier code. But, the path is revealing itself and I belong here. Do I miss my old school? Every single day--but change has always been my inspiration, so get ready. Healigan is on a roll.