Day of Days

Four years for the first degree, three and a half for the second, lots of job applications, one interview, and here I am at last, a middle school Teacher-Librarian on the first day of school! Since the first day of new teacher orientation over a week ago, I have been bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, drinking up all the boring trainings and squeezing productivity out of every last minute of “in your classroom” time.

In the days leading up to this, the day of days, the day when we finally welcome our students, I have been eagerly soaking up trainings on website management, library programs, district policies, and schoolwide procedures. I have met dozens of colleagues, noting who will be good resources for what, who I can look forward to providing support for over the school year, and generally fostering professional relationships with everyone from our custodians to our district leaders. I have prepared our library space: hanging posters, taking down old student work to make way for the new, arranging tables, and placing books in displays. Perhaps most importantly, I have begun planning for the upcoming school year: 6^th grade library orientations, teacher collaboration meetings, collection development, book fairs, national library events, Library Advisory Board club, and the list goes on. And on and on.

First week of school—not for the faint-hearted. But what an exciting opportunity to set the stage for the entire rest of the year!

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What I’m NERDing right now: OneNote lists. Providing the perfect degree of organized chaos for my scattered brain.