Meeting my new colleagues

This week has been incredible. I had the opportunity to attend some amazing professional development alongside many of my new colleagues. Most of us are new since the school is only in its third year of operation and given the hiring freeze, all of the newbies (myself included) made transfers on the open market. It has been amazing to connect with everyone and I am so happy (and relieved) to say that I really feel like I have found a place where I will be able to grow as a teacher and a professional.

Some of you might be skeptical, after all, many of us think of transfer teachers as the ones who didn't make it in their old school, or people who moved and wanted to be closer to home, but that is not the case with my colleagues.

All of us share several things in common that really make me think that my new principal has a vision for the school. First of all, we were all interviewed and hired in April (although none of the transfers officially went through until the budgets came out in June). To me, this really shows that he was looking for the best. We all gave demo lessons as part of the interview process. We all accepted the positions we were offered because something told us this would be different. We are all TRAUMATIZED (and I'm not using the term lightly) by our experiences from our other schools and we're not quite sure to make of a place where children are at the center of decision-making, and things are organized (How many of you already have your class rosters color coded for ELLs, IEPs, new arrivals, home language, and ethnicity? You units of study in all subject areas? Your staff handbook? Your schedule?). We are grateful for every piece of communication from the administration and every bit of help from our colleagues. We all either cried or almost cried when we saw our gorgeous classrooms for the first time...happy crying.

I am so hopeful for this next school year. I can't wait to go in tomorrow and start getting things set up.