Week 1 Reflection

I have had a few big changes in my life since the last time I blogged. I have a new job (STEM supervisor) at a new school (Cedar Creek). I have very little to do with wrestling now and my son is a year old and has really developed a personality over the past several months. (Those of you with kids understand what I'm talking about and are probably giggling thinking about what I'm in for over the next several years!) I plan on writing about all of that soon, as I think I'm ready to discuss it, but now I want to start weekly reflections on my new professional situation. I think this will be interesting to look back on at the end of the first year.

I'll dedicate a few sentences to my first official weeks on the job, but they aren't that interesting. I started August 1st, and spent the majority of August learning procedures, meeting administrators and a few teachers, and ordering science supplies that I didn't know existed. Nothing I did was very hard, but it was tedious and boring. I had a ton of support from people I worked with at Millville and would like to thank Kathy, Ray, Pete, LaGamba, and Pamm for checking in on me periodically...it meant a lot.

Now to the real first week. We started on Monday with an in-service and a new "acting" principal. In our planning for the first day, I was excited to see that Scott (principal) had the same basic idea as I did about the first day for teachers...give them as much positive energy and time to get ready as possible. He put together a really cool video to open the day with that got everyone excited to be back at the Creek. Then he gave them a ton of time in their classrooms to get ready for the students. We kept our department meeting to about 20 minutes with the same idea in mind. Even though I didn't know most of the STEM staff, I figured it would be better to get to know them one-on-one than to give some kind of blanket introductory speech.

Tuesday was the first day for students and when I really began having fun. I got to see every STEM teacher in class that day and it was awesome! I saw some cool chemistry experiments, engineering design challenges, ice breakers, and full fledged lessons in AP classes. I did realize that I miss teaching...a lot. I don't miss lesson planning, grading, meetings, and all the other extra stuff, but I hate that I'm not going to get to build the same relationships with students that I have for the past 14 years.

Throughout the week I was able to see every STEM teacher multiple times in class and talk to them all informally too. Those are my 2 big goals this year: get into every class and talk to every teacher every week. I know a ton of things are going to come up and get in the way of that sometimes, but I feel if that is my number one priority, I can make it happen...I just hope I don't fall behind on the administrative side of things.

Anyways, I'm really excited about the group of people I'm working with now. It's going to take a while to stop saying "we" when talking about Millville and start saying "we" when talking about Cedar Creek, but I've been in Millville schools since 1985, so deal with it.

Follow #PirateSTEM to keep up with the Creek.

Bobby