Ready or Not....Here We Come

Today was the first student day in the school district I serve. Admittedly, there were more questions I should have asked to make sure the day went flawlessly. All in all, though, the few glitches that happened took care of themselves with the team work of the stakeholders in the building, and procedures are already in place for tomorrow so there won't be a repeat.

Though the day was harried, it was neat to see the different grade level teachers working with their students. I realized that while I was running my head off all day making sure X, Y and Z were in place, and seeing to getting materials and such to the appropriate places, the teachers were tirelessly attending to their students. This was such a unique perspective.

Last year was an internship year, and I still felt insulated from the ultimate decision making. My boss and I have this cool team-work that gives me the latitude to make some of the decisions. It's weird to have people be asking me for things and to actually be able to take care of some of it. Furthermore, it's even more weird to ask people if they can do such and such and have them say yes. I can truly say that Northcrest is a TEAM. I didn't once run into anyone who balked at pitching in. There were a few tense moments at the end of the day, when teachers were already well past their contracted day, and still were attending to some bus issues. When I finally realized that the normal protocol in place was carried out by an absent staff member, it was too late. The problem will be rectified tomorrow, but I didn't even completely lose my cool. I realized that the person with whom I was speaking was looking through a lens of "this is usually done this way." And I was looking at it with a lens of "how is this usually taken care of." We were speaking the same language, really, and Kristi pitched in to make the necessary signs so that this won't happen tomorrow.

I am so looking forward to this year. The students seem to want to do the right thing most of the time. I've spotted a few who are already pushing it, but I will try to connect with them. All, in all, though exhausting, it was exhilarating. I'm tired and will sleep well tonight.