New Teacher Orientation. Yesterday, while randomly searching the internet, I came across a New Teacher Orientation here in NYC. Since I have not had my own classroom for several years, I think of myself as a new teacher; I decided to go to the orientation. It was last minute, but I managed. The web site said that anyone interested in attending the orientation had to register and print out the flyer to bring to the orientation. I assumed the flyer would act as a ticket/invitation. Yesterday, I got off my butt to walk up to the big local office supply store to print out the flyer. The office supply store is about a 12 minute walk up-hill. I walked to that area, I went to the bank, I went to a couple of the small shops in the area, and on my way back, I needed to go to the grocery store for a few items.

When I finally returned to my shoebox, I had the feeling that I forgot something…

I forgot to go to the office supply store to print out my flyer. I had to return. In order to print the single flyer, I had to pay $2.50 just to open the file, then another $0.10 for the B&W copy. I was told that usually any requests for printing or copying had to be reserved (meaning that once the order was placed), I would have to return. However, I was lucky, the woman was nice enough to do the printing then and there. That woman is one of the nicest store clerks I’ve ever met.

On my way back, I knew that I would not have time to make the spaghetti and meat sauce, so I ordered take-out from one of the local restaurants. I ironed my my white shirt and slacks. I set my alarm clock for 5:20.

About 5:00 I woke up with my biological clock. I am lucky enough to not have to need an alarm clock, my body always seems to know when I have to get up. Unfortunately, when I have an irregular schedule, or I don’t get enough sleep, my internal clock does not work. When it comes to work, or an important event, I don’t rely on my internal clock, so I set an alarm clock. It is a little strange, I set the alarm, but I don’t like the alarm to go off (especially when it might disturb others), so I will usually wake up before the alarm goes off to turn it off.

For breakfast, I ate 2 bowls of cold cereal and drank hot green tea. On the train, I was able to get a seat, there I continued my Grisham book “The Broker”. The travel route (to the orientation) was very easy. I checked the map for the end station. Since the D train was one of the trains that stopped at the correct station, I thought I did not have anything to worry about. Unfortunately, since I was so into my book, I really didn’t notice that I was on a morning express train (which takes a different route during the morning rush hour. I ended up going about 3 or 4 station out of the way. Luckily for me, I was planning to get there early to avoid any rush and possible get a good seat. When I arrived at the correct station, I met a woman who was also going to the new teacher orientation, and she had just asked someone for the walking directions to Brooklyn Technical High School (the location of the orientation). As soon as we arrived (the woman and I) we were greeted by the teacher’s union representatives. The reps were handing out information flyers about the teacher’s union.

At the front door, we were greeted by event organizer escorts. Once inside, the woman and I went our separate ways. Escorts escorted the newbie to their seats. We were told to sit row by row without skipping any seats (just like we would tell the kids). On each seat was a black shoulder bag with a few free items inside:

An insulated coffee mug
A B5 sized calendar book with a weekly, monthly, and yearly planner
Information flyers

Also free books were given:

The First Days of School
Conscious Classroom Management
Best Lesson Plan Websites for Educators

It turned out to be a packed house. And, I was clearly over dressed. Very few guys were in shirt and ties. A few people were dressed in shorts and tee-shirts. The event started at 9:00am with a drum performance.

A 20 minute performance! Now, not to sound old and crabby, but isn’t it a little too early to have drums beating for 20 minutes. And after every drum act, the audience felt the need to give the kids a loud rousing applause.

Did I like the drum performance?

Yes, I did. I thought it was too loud (and too early for drums), but I thought the kids and their teacher did a very nice job. A very nice entertaining performance!!! Two thumbs up!! After the drum performance, there were speeches from the Chancellor, the Deputy Chancellor, the head of Human Resources, and the teacher’s union president. The speeches were okay, I guess. Sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention. I was a little annoyed that the speaker’s podium was located at the far left side of the stage. I was in the audience on the far right side of the auditorium (about 4 seats from the exit). Since I did not see anyone taking pictures, neither did I.

After the speeches, the newbies were herded into the high school sized gym where about 70 exhibitors had tables displaying various kinds of information relevant to teachers:

Free stuff (books, pens, pencils, magnets, etc…)
Union information
Teaching resources
Catalogs
Field trips information
Banks
Etc…

A big office supply store, and a computer company were there offering discounted merchandise. Since I was close to the exit leading to the “exhibition hall”, I was one of the first ones in. Unfortunately, the tide of newbies just kept coming and coming. It got to the point that we were pressed in like sardines.

After about 5 minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore, I left the “exhibition hall” and waited out in front of the school for the workshops to start. They called them “workshops” but they were basically Q & A sessions, all located in the 7th floor cafeteria, all going on at the same time. According to the itinerary, there were supposed to be 2 one hour sessions. I went to the Teacher Certification/Licensing section (see previous blog entries for why). Then, I went to the Salary Differentials section. The woman giving the presentation (Q & A) at the Teacher Certification section really seemed to know her stuff. She was like a machine. She took any and all questions. She started early, and did not take a break. The woman doing the Q & A for the Salary section, seemed to know her stuff also, but she seemed bored, and disorganized. She started late, and had to beg and borrow from the newbie the salary step scale handout.

After the “workshops”, I returned to the “exhibition hall”. About 1/3 of the exhibitors had left, and there were a lot less people there. I felt more comfortable to explore the different tables without feeling the need to response to every sales pitch from each table. Now that the exhibition was just about over, there was no longer any hard sell pitches. The left the orientation with about a 10 to 15 pound bag of stuff.

On my way back I took the D train. I noticed that the Manhattan Bridge had a pedestrian path, when I get a chance I want to walk across that bridge. I also pick up about 7 or 8 free tourist maps of New York City. Hopefully, I will be able to use them to walk around the city.

I returned to my shoebox. Screamer was in the kitchen. After changing my clothes and going to the bathroom, I went to the kitchen. My plan was to finally make the spaghetti and meat sauce with the ground meat that has been in the refrigerator for about a week. Once in the kitchen, I noticed that Screamer left oatmeal spilt in on and around stove. It looked liked someone had thrown up. My first impulse was to eat out, saving the spaghetti dinner for yet another day. However, I changed my mind. I decided that I would cook around the oatmeal spill.

I started the water boiling for the pasta. I took out the ground meat and put it in another pot to brown. I must have taken my eyes off the meat for about a minute. I don’t know how. I don’t know when. But, somehow, there were roaches in the meat. Not one, but two!!! I was so disgusted. All week, I put off making the spaghetti dinner, now there were roaches in the pot with the meat. Having to throw away the meat really made me annoyed. At first, my plan was to just make the spaghetti with out adding meat to the pasta sauce, but I just no longer felt like cooking. I asked Screamer (in a fairly wimpy approach) to please wash those dirty dishes that have been sitting in the counter for weeks…if she has the time. Even when I am angry, I spend too much time worrying about other people’s feelings. While I am dumping hot water and washing my dishes, Screamer agrees to wash her dishes. She stands about 3 or 4 feet away waiting for me to finish. After about 5 minutes of standing there, she then decides the wait in her room.

I went out to a local grocery store to buy dinner from the store’s hot buffet. When I returned, Screamer later apologized for leaving the kitchen a mess. She told me that she is usually tired trying to keep her room clean because her boyfriend always leaves a mess when he comes back. No comment from me.

Screamer actually did a very nice job cleaning up her dirty dishes, and she cleaned them very fast. I was actually impressed.

About an hour later, Mr. 40 leaves his dirty pan on the counter. Yes, there were roaches crawling over his pan. However, later that evening he did wash the pan.

I need to start looking for my own apartment.

The attached photo is of the free stuff that I received at the orientation.

Post Date - Monday, August 28, 2006 1:32am