First Day Of School

I survived my first day of school and it went well! I think I might have been a little excited to get started - I woke up at 2am, then again at 4am, and finally jumped out of bed when my alarm went off at 5:45am. I drove to Newport at 6:45 in the ice and pitch darkness and was in my office by 7am. Kids starting trickling in to introduce themselves and check me out - they were really cute about it. And some other teachers popped in to say hi too, which was nice. I had gone to school yesterday to meet the choir teacher - her name is Christine and this is her first year in Newport. She is super nice and answered all my questions yesterday so I actually felt like I was ready to start today. I think she and I are going to work well together and it is nice to have a music colleague again after being the only HS music teacher in Peru.

My classes went well today, for the most part. I really enjoyed the HS band and I know I am going to have a great time with them. We sightread some music and I am anxious to receive the other music that I ordered yesterday (the existing music library is filled with crap that I refuse to subject them, or me, to). The kids were nice and very helpful. The MS band was a bit of another story. I've never been a huge fan of middle school and I think these guys are going to be a challenge. There are some very nice kids in the band and they weren't horrible, but there were a couple of kids who were just crappy. I know it will get better as they get used to me, but I was EXHAUSTED after the MS rehearsal and, of course, it is the last period of the day every day!

All and all it was a good day and I am looking forward to going back tomorrow so that is a good thing! School finishes at 2pm everyday (so early!) so it is nice to have some time in the afternoons that I can spend in my classroom and get things done so I don't have to bring a lot of work home. I love setting up a classroom and getting things organized and it appears that the man I'm replacing wasn't very tidy or organized, so I have lots of work to do!

Thanks for all your good wishes for my first day of school. I appreciate the love and support!