A bit of a set back...

I went to bed about 1am.  I woke up about 5am.  I couldn't go back to sleep until about 7am.  I got up about 10am.  It is now 12noon.  I should have been at school about 4 hours ago.  I won't be at work until about 2:45pm (the earliest).  And I have my first evening class for this semester.  I was suppose to have been done with all my heavy lifting and moving yesterday.  But now, I'll either have to wait until the other teachers arrive after tomorrow, Friday, or even after Labor Day.  Yes, there are teachers who won't do an ounce more than legally required...if at all.  Or, ...I will have to go to my classroom and remove all of the fourth grade materials (student textbooks, and test prep materials, etc...), go through my things to remove 2nd and 3rd grade materials.  Since the other two 4th grade teachers already have their things, they will not be taking any extra materials.  In other words, there won't be anyone to come pick up the 4th grade materials.  The materials will probably have to be taken to one of the book closets on another floors (of course).  I'll probably have to be the one to go up to the third floor and go through the contents of the unpacked 6th grade classroom to find the 6th grade materials, and then bring them down to my room.  Then, pack away those materials.  And after all that is done, figure out what I'll be should be teaching sixth graders.

Oh, and can I do this before 4:30pm and not sweat up a storm.  I would prefer not going to my first class of the semester stinking to high heaven.

I better stop procrastinating.  I have work to do.

Finally!!!

I finally put together the exercise bike I bought back on July 16, 2010.  I'm going to try the (modified) liquid diet (along with some exercising on my bike and rowing machine). 

Problem?  My back is bothering me a bit.  This past week along with trying to get my classroom together, one of the APs at my school asked me (and another male teacher) to help another teacher with moving some things.  On Thursday, it was moving 10 ~12 large plastic bins of science materials upstairs to another room.  On Friday, it was helping a new teacher move 75 classroom chairs from the rented U-haul parked across the street to the third floor (no elevator).  The new teacher said that the chairs were given to her if she was willing to move them.  She said her plan was to just use 16 of the chairs and donate the rest to our school.  She must be a new teacher if she thinks she will ever have a class with only 16 students in it.  I didn't say anything, but I was thinking it.  Not to mention the chairs stored....never mind.

Anyway, my back was feeling okay today.  I didn't even pretend that I would do anything.  I slept the day away.  I was feeling okay, but the discomfort returned when I moved the box containing the exercise bike (disassembled) from the hallway to the living room.  I'll have to be careful.  I'm already exhausted with one more "setup day" to go.  This year there is no weekend to buffer the setup days from the first day the students arrive.  On Tuesday, I'm going to have to make sure I don't do any heavy lifting.

Well, I gotta go.  Tomorrow, I will have to return to the teacher's store to make a couple of purchases.  I forgot I threw away my old classroom number line.

Preparation - Day 5

Somehow my blog entries for my preparation days don't seem to add up, but I'm too tired to care.

Today was the last day for unofficial preparation.  And I'm still not done.  This coming Tuesday is the official day teachers have to report to school.  So, this year will be starting like all of the others; I'll be playing catch-up.  The AP at my school informed me (as a group of us were leaving the building) that there will be a 3 hour PD (professional development) on Tuesday.  Therefore, half my day will be gone.  The very next day the students will be arriving.  The following two days school will be closed.  On the one hand I'm happy, but on the other I'll be playing catch-up.  I will try to use the following week to stay afterschool and do the planning that I thought I would have started before the students arrived.  It would have been so cool to to start school with my entire year mapped out.

Preparation - Day 3

This will be short.  Today was more cleaning.  I arrived about 11AM to start cleaning and reorganizing the main storage closet in my classroom.  I was (once again) bothered by the idea of just putting things back, and hopefully getting around to cleaning and organizing at another time.  I know that if I don't do the cleaning and organizing now, it won't get done.  So although I'm somewhat annoyed that those around me are all ready set up, and my room still looks like I arrived yesterday, I'm pleased with myself for cleaning out my closets and cabinets.  I think I've done all the cleaning I need to do.  Tomorrow, I will try to get to my room by 8AM (something I haven't been able to do for the last three days), and do as much setting up as I can.

Preparation - Day 3

More of the same.  Oh, and I received my class list....

if everyone shows up....

I'll have....




32 Students!!!

Preparation - Day 2

Today wasn't as successful as yesterday.  I woke up stiff and tired.  I had to drag myself out of bed.  Today I really wasn't in the mood for unpacking.  I was hoping to be finished today, but no such luck.  I'm going to try an earlier bedtime tonight (and breakfast tomorrow).  Hopefully, I can get the burst of energy I had on Day 1.  So, I'm going to end this entry now.  Bye for now.

Preparation - Day 1

I'll have to keep this short.  I want to be in bed by 11PM.  So, how did I do with my "To Do" List?  Not very good.  In hindsight, I wasn't realistic.  In the past, the last minute rush usually involved me returning the following day (and in some instances, that day is a Saturday).  So although, I didn't do too well with my list, I'm pleased with what I accomplished:

Day 1 - Results:
I managed to arrived at 7:40AM; I was unpacking by 8AM. 

1. Unpack all necessary boxes (about 18 of them) - I unpacked about half.
2. Arrange classroom furniture - 90% Completed
3. Set up classroom library - 90% ompleted
4. Set up (and fill up) the brand new shelving units - Set Up Completed, shelving 40% Completed
5. Set up classroom computers - Not Done
6. Change bulletin board paper - Not Done

Well, that was Day 1.  I returned home about 6:30PM.  I then had to do my laundry.  I also made sure to soak in the tub for about a half an hour.  I didn't want to wake up tomorrow morning stiff and too tired to be at school by 8AM.

Well, I'm going to try calling it a night early (for me), so that I can have another productive day.  I should be  able to finish  the unpacking and classroom setup tomorrow.  That would give me three days for planning(long-term), and one day for prep work(short-term).

Vacation Ends

My vacation is over.  Today, my plan was to see a movie "Dinner for Smucks" and visit my foster father.  However, doing the visiting first put the kibosh on the movie.  By the time I finished "visiting", it was time to return home.

On my way home, I decided to once and for all try the Shopping Center I see while I'm riding on the Metro-North train.  Since I don't have a car, I'm limited by my shopping choices.  Weill with A Target, Home Depot, and a BJ's within my travel route, I now have some more options.  Especially BJ's.  BJ's is a bulk food and supply store. 

Well, I better go.  Tomorrow is the first (unofficial) day of work.  Here in NYC, teachers are required to report back to schools on the day before the students do(this year it is September 7th.  Most teachers will probably returned two or three days before.  I like having the whole week to slowly adjust to work hours.  Also, I really need more time to get organized.  Each year I've failed with getting organized and spend the reminder of the school year stressing out.  I'm hoping the that this will be the end of my losing streak.    My goals for this year are actually the exact same goals as last year.  Since I failed so miserable with my goals, there is no need to change them. 

So, will this year be any different?  Only time will tell.  The first real test (I suppose) will come tomorrow.  Each year, I've always managed to find something to distract me from unpacking until this last minute.  Even though I'm usually the first teacher back, I'm usually the last one finished. 

This year (tomorrow), unpacking will be the first thing on my To Do List.  If this year is going to be different, I will have mostly finished my Day 1 Goals:

Day 1 "To Do" List*
1. Unpack all necessary boxes (about 18 of them)
2. Arrange classroom furniture
3. Set up classroom library
4. Set up (and fill up) the brand new shelving units
5. Set up classroom computers
6. Change bulletin board paper
*In the past, this has been my Day 5 To Do List.  I've been able to get most of it done in Day 5, so I should be able to get it done on Day 1.  I hope.

If I can get most (or all) of the above list completed, this would be a good indication that my year just might be different from all of the others. 

My next posting will let you know if I succeeded.

To Be Continued...

Set Up - Day 3

I'll have to make this fast. Tomorrow is the official first day back. So, spending a extra 3 days in schools before the official day, how much have I accomplished.

Not much.

The first couple of days were basically moving days for me. Monday was about moving boxes and furniture. Tuesday was about moving my personal teaching materials from home to school, and moving 6 students desks from the third floor to the second floor for the increased class size I'll have this school year. And today?

Last night I went to bed about 11:30pm only to wake up about 1:30am with a runny nose, a dry cough, and serious case of sneezes. I didn't return to sleep until about 3am. When I woke up again I wasn't in the mood to handle my classroom. I managed to finally get out and catch the train at about 11:30pm. I arrived to school about 12:30pm; my day was about half over when I arrived. Other than shuffling books in my classroom library, I didn't do anything.

Revised Plan

Thursday will have to be classroom set up.
Friday - It would be nice to say that I will be spending the whole day lesson planning for the month of September, but a more realistic plan will probably be finishing up decorating the room and doing my lesson plans for the first week of school. Hopefully, I will be able to have my supply list and letter of introduction revised.


Post Date - Sunday, October 28, 2008 2:58PM
Completion Date - Wednesday, August 27, 2008 8:40PM

Back to the Salt Mine

Sorry, I was too tired to post yesterday. Yesterday was suppose to have been moving furniture and unpack the neatly labeled boxes. Well, that was just hopeful dreaming for me. First of all, I got started later than planned. I arrived to school about 11am. After I moved the furniture to their approx. locations, and cleared off the back cabinets, I was exhausted. Even though I had a fairly concrete idea of where I wanted everything to go, and my boxes were labeled so that I knew exactly what was in them. I still had to deal with a bit of a mental block (a kind of "where do I start, or what do I do" kind of thing). So instead of doing anything substantive, I kind of fritted away the time.

Today, I had a reservation with a mover to help me move my things back to my classroom. To make sure we were on the road as quickly as possible, I moved my things from my apartment to the sidewalk before the mover was supposed to have arrived; the guy was about 40 minutes late. He was a very nice guy though. When we arrived, the side area gate was locked, and the side door was locked as well. My classroom just happens to be the last class by the side exit. If the side entrance had been opened, it would have been a single flight of stairs to my classroom. The only available space was a fire hydrant further down the block. Since the mover couldn't leave his van unattended (and risk getting a ticket), and not knowing where to take the boxes, it fell to me to move my things into the building. Once in the building, I had to take the approx. 10~15 boxes up one flight of stairs. I was exhausted again. I was too tired to do anything productive like unpacking boxes, so I sat and organized the classroom library books. I took a break for lunch. I ordered a turkey sandwich from the local bodega. On the way back, the security guard was either off duty or on a lunch break, so Mr. Gruff (one of the custodians), came to the door...reluctantly (making sure to remind us[those trying to get into the building] that Thursday was the day we were suppose to return).

About 5:40pm, the fire alarm when off. In this school, that's the custodian's way of saying, "get out, now".


What's the attached photo? I took this picture while I was moving my things. On Sunday, someone on the first floor of my building left that trash right in the middle of hallway. They could not even be bothered to put it near the incinerator closet. Where my foster father lives, signs have to be posted to remind residents that they should not through soiled diapers and trash out the window. Amazing...and not in a good way.


Post Date - Saturday, October 25, 2008 11:53PM
Completion Date - Tuesday, August 26, 2008 9:48PM