The New Gun in Town

It's hard to believe it, but I am finally and officially a teacher. I have been teaching for the last two weeks at my new school, and yesterday I picked up my teaching certificate. Now, I am just waiting for my diploma to arrive in the mail.

As far as the job goes, my only real problem is the politics of my situation. The last teacher left on less than ideal terms and there is a bit of resentment towards the replacement, that would be me. I am told that some teacher are under the impression that I have been saying that my predecessor was a bad teacher. This isn't true, of course. I don't know anything about her, but her friends at the school are a bit defensive. I guess I would be too if I thought my friend was being pushed out her job by the administration. Basically, I have no choice, but to ignore it. I don't like being pre-judged, but there is very little I can do about it. My dept chair and principal have been really supportive and mostly the other staff have been to, so I am good to go.

I am learning quickly and adapting to my situation as quickly as possible. I teach three different courses but have a total of four classes. One of them I have every other day for a full year, while my AP and other general class is everyday for one semester. The later two have been the easiest to get settled into. Developing the AP curriculum is tough but I have several resources for that, and my materials are on their way. The hardest thing is getting control of a class that wasn't mine to begin with. Students get attached very quickly and it takes time to win their respect and attention. Fortunately, this group is shared in common with a history and English teacher that I meet with every week. The English teacher, Erin, has been extremely helpful. She keeps giving me clues about the students; what they respond to, who they shouldn't sit by, and what to expect from them.

All-in-all I am enjoying my new career. The only time I really question my decision is when my alarm goes off at 5:30 in the morning. Oh well, with a 3 day weekend coming up I can sleep in on Monday.