Monday
This
was a hectic day with very few breaks.
We had our first full admin meeting this morning that lasted a very long
time, 4 hours. It was good and we have a
strong team that all brings a different perspective to the table. It is going to be great to be able to all
work together and learn from one another.
I did have a meeting with a lady today from a group called Safe
House. This is an organization that
provides high risk students with therapy services and a place to go if they
feel like they are not safe. They have
some wonderful programs. In fact, I was
surprised at how many great programs they have for individuals from age
14-22. I wonder if SC has these programs
and I just didn’t know about them. They
have a place for students to go if they are abused, homeless or are runaways
for three weeks as they get counseling and find a more permanent place. They also have a program for people age 18-22
where they can live and learn job skills for 18 months. During this time they create a resume and
find a job. Once they do this, they put
50% of their earnings in savings, 10% for rent and they get the rest to
spend. I wish someone would have done
that for me. My BFAW (Best Friend at Work) invited me
to her house for dinner since we were working late. It was nice to get to meet her family as well
before ending the day.
Tuesday
Today
I got to pick my secretary. It was
really my first interview on my own completely.
I have interviewed others with different administrators but this was my
true first interview for a position on my own AND I get to interview Special
Education teachers on Wednesday with Megan.
Can you say – GROWTH!!!!!! I am
so excited and nervous. What if I pick a
“BAD” one……
Well
the secretary interviews went well.
There was a group of 9 of us from 3 different schools who interviewed 9
candidates for three positions. We were
independent of each other but we all got to sit in the same room. One of the other interviewers was from my
school as well. It was Megan’s secretary
because you have to have “job-alike” person on the panel as well since they are
unionized. Megan’s secretary was
fabulous and helped me look at resumes but she was very much supportive of my
position and felt the same way as I do about the person that was offered the
position. So….I will get to have my own
secretary in a week or so.
I
also had a meeting with the Educational Technology coordinator to plan for the
rollout of the tablets in the next few weeks.
She is going to be a great advocate and help to me as we move forward
with the technology plan in Riverside and at North. I am very excited about working with
her. Dee helped to prepare me for this
move forward as well so I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with
her in D5. The really nice thing is that
if North is interested in increasing technology in our school, the district
will listen and try and make it happen.
Freshman
night, called START, happened on Tuesday night so I was at school very
late. We had an incidence that happened
that evening as well. No real action
happened but it was a reminder that students are on their way back and our
vigilance needs to be ramped up. The
Admin team worked well together to get the situation taken care of and we
debriefed at the end of the night to be sure we were all informed and ready to
go for the next day. It was a long
evening, I did not get back to the Roe’s until 9:00 pm but it was a very good
day!!!!
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| Band at Freshman START night |
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| Color Guard at Freshman START night. |
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| Drumline at Freshman START night |
Wednesday
Today
was great!! I got to interview SPED
teachers and work with some students and their parents in making decisions
about their future. I feel like I got to
make some progress as to being involved today with several different things
including meeting with the media specialist and the Coordinator of Science,
Health and PE. Yes, I know – you may be
thinking that is me – but it is not!!!!
It is someone else!!! LOL!!!
Thursday
I
was a little disappointed today. Not for
anything big but today was the first day teachers were back and I did not get
to interact with them as much as I would have liked. We had a lot going on today, we had pictures
this morning – I am including them here – the admin picture and the school
picture.
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| Teacher Breakfast |
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| Welcome Back Address from Principal! |
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| Admin Team for 2013-2014 at John W. North High School |
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| John W. North High School - 2013-2014 - Staff Picture |
Now,
let me point out that teachers here in CA only get two days, if they are lucky
to come in and get set up, have PD and arrange their rooms before class
start. So obviously, they were in their
rooms a good bit and we just had a lot to do in the admin world to be ready for
them on Friday and kids on Monday. So I
am not toooo upset. However, I was
hoping to meet a few. I did get home
earlier on Thursday and Jessica and I were able to hang out and talk a good bit
which was very relaxing. I actually ate
vegetables for dinner – I cooked them myself!!!! First time in about three weeks due to my
crazy schedule, traveling and packing!!!
Friday
Well
today I was super nervous about school.
Today was the first day that I presented to teachers at North!!! It went well and quite a number of teachers
are taking the engagement piece that I used and are going to change it to use
in their classroom. Thank you to
Colleen, Erin, Melony, and Tami for all the collaboration, practice, help and
guidance over the past year to make each of us a better presenter and look at
PD in a different light!!!! I got to sit
with some of the teachers at lunch and chat about SC and how I made it here to
Riverside. It is funny because they feel
the same way I do about SC. “Why would
you want to move here, of all places?” is the response most commonly
heard. That is what I say about places
in SC. So no matter what part of the
country you are in, you hear it.
Now,
my first traumatic experience of living in CA happened today as well. NO, it was not an earthquake Jamie!!! When I left school at 5:10 on Friday, my car
would not start. That is correct my
friends, my car battery was dead. Now,
normally this is why I have AAA.
However, I had somewhere to be at 6:00 pm and AAA does not work on my
time. So, I called my friend Megan and
she and her husband came to rescue me.
Well that was not a big deal but then at the end of my event that I was
at it did not start again. You can
imagine my frustration, irritation and tiredness at 9:00 pm when this is
happening AGAIN!!! However, I just have
to look at this as a new adventure with some hiccups along the way. So at 9:15 pm at night, there is really no
where that I know of to stop and get a new battery so that is on my list of
things to do on Saturday. Good thing
Jessica is saying that she is going to help me because I am sure my battery
will be dead Sat. morning.
Now,
that brings me to my last part of my traumatic event. I wanted to go hiking on Saturday
morning. L Instead I will be spending that time getting
my car fixed. Oh well…..it could be
worse – remember life is an adventure and it is one ride at a time.
Saturday
I
am seriously struggling today!! I have
been fine for two weeks but burning the candles at both ends is catching up
now. I thought I was going to get to go
hiking this morning and then eat breakfast with a friend of mine but that did
not happen because of the car battery situation. I was bummed on Friday night when I
discovered this about the car and my plans to hike but I thought. Leann, you are a big girl, put on your big
girl panties and get over it. I went to
bed feeling okay and knowing that I had a plan today. However, I woke up around 3:00 am this
morning and could not go back to sleep so I sent a few emails and then went
back to sleep, thank goodness. Then…
this morning I was awakened suddenly at 6:30 am by friendly faces looking down
on me. Two little heads bopped into the
room to make sure that I was at the house and available to do things with
them. I told my little friends that I
would be around today. Jessica and I
discussed what the day would look like and how to get some items done so I
thought we should be pretty busy. I got up and got dressed and Jessica and I
ran errands this morning and we were doing really well. This is where I made the big mistake and I
should know better because I know myself pretty well. I talked with the girls from the GNO Group
and while it was FANTASTIC to talk to them (yes – all of you), it reminded me
of how much I miss everyone even though I am making new friends and having fun
at my new school. Missing out monthly
get together is more disheartening than I thought it would be. I have also been touching base with friends
from SC today and that makes it tough as well.
It is a good thing that Jessica and I are supposed to cook tonight and
her dad is coming over to fix my car.
Hopefully that will get my mind off of everything because I know this is
just a phase. Give me a couple of weeks
and things will be fine. I just gotta
get over this hump and get my clothes and resources here.
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| If I talked to you on Saturday, this is what I was looking at when we chatted. |
Sunday
Today was somewhat of a lazy day if you know me. Typically on Sunday's I teach a Zumba class and stay pretty busy going back to Columbia and hanging out with my mom. Today, I got up and got some work done. I completed the Classroom Mosaic Draft for our observations at North and got some thank you cards written. Jessica and Michael took me with the kids today to celebrate Kennedy's birthday and to eat lunch with the Poly Admin team at Anchos. Then I got to meet Michael's family today at his grandma (Oma) and grandpa (Ompa). They came from Holland in 1955 with friends. They bought an acre of land and flipped a coin to see who got the left and right side of the acre and that is where they have lived since then. His grandfather has an aviary in the back that is beautiful and he raises birds. David Mauldin's bird business in minimal compared to all the birds here. I have to say that I fell asleep in the car on the way home. I think the time is catching up with me but it was a nap that I needed so I am ready to go. Tomorrow is the first day with kids!! Go Huskies!!!!
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