A Year Later.

Last year at this time I was really excited (and nervous) about starting a new job at a new school. So how did it go? (Because I didn't do well at blogging during the year.)

It was ok. Not great, not horrible.

Positives:

• I met a lot of nice people. I made some new friends, especially the ladies I worked with closely every day.
• I had a lot of time and freedom to do what I wanted - I explored, I researched, I looked for ideas for people.
• I had a lot of time to just help out. Need someone to attend a meeting? I'm there. Need someone to check out a tool and write directions?  Got it.
• The lack of grading/planning at nights and on the weekends was amazing.
• At the end of the year I was surprised at how many kids I recognized and knew, even from just checking in/out books and computers.
• I realized that I can do more than teach math - that was definitely something I was worried about. Over-confidence is not one of my problems.

Negatives:

• I missed my old colleagues and friends. There's such a feel of community at that school that I didn't get at the new one... and it's totally possible that it's because I'm new. I often attended happy hours with my old peeps, which was a mixed bag. It was great to see everyone and catch up but it mad me sad to hear all of the fun stuff they were doing.
• It was harder than I imagined to get people interested in making change and using technology. I realize that people "don't have time"  but that excuse can't last forever.
• I missed "my" kids. Even though they change every year. 
• I missed teaching! I offered to take a class if there was a "leftover" but it didn't work out. That made me sad.

So what's up for the future? I don't know. I'm definitely staying put for the next year - I refuse to flit from one job to another after one year because things aren't perfect.