Quick update

I really should be working on grades and some other paperwork, but I thought I'd take a quick moment to let you know that yes, the job is underway, and I feel like I'm settling in now. Oh, sure, there's a lot of stuff to do still, but I'll eventually get around to it, I suspect. Meantime, we finally got into the new house a couple of days ago, so we have that whole moving-and-settling-in process to deal with. But the good news is, it's finally starting to feel real. I'll have a few more details when (if) I ever get a chance to finally catch my breath and can get a free weekend without having to go back to the other end of the state (where I am right now, and will be again next weekend, as the movers are coming then).

One down, 179 to go!

At last, my new job started today. True, I've been doing stuff with my new colleagues for the past week or so, and setting up the room and such, but this was the first official day of the school year, and the first day with students. Yikes! It actually went pretty well, the kids are great to work with (so far), and I seem to have been warmly welcomed. Of course, most of what I taught was just about the new discipline system to my Advisory section — and due to a mix-up, that turned out to be only six freshmen.

I also got to be part of the junior class meeting, as I somehow took it upon myself to be one of the class advisers. I thought it was a way of becoming part of my new community, but of course after I signed up was when I learned that the juniors were responsible for the prom. Eek! Still, once I got back to our old house, I was able to sincerely ask Laura, "Dear, will you go with me to the prom?" I think she's now amused by the idea that I'm taking her to the prom well after we were both in high school. (For the record, we didn't meet until we were both in college. Also, this will be a big improvement over my original prom, as my then-girlfriend dumped me two days after the prom, and I suspect she kept it going long enough just to go.) While I was at it, I also asked her to the Homecoming football game, too, which is coming up in only a month now.

On the new house front, we may FINALLY be there this week! I'm signing some papers after work tomorrow. Laura is coming out Thursday morning to sign them (while I'm at work), and if all goes well, we may get cleared on Friday and we can start moving in over the long weekend — but without hot water (the gas can't be hooked up until after the weekend and someone is there) or the bulk of our furniture (moving day is now officially September 13!). And there's also all of the new appliances we need to figure out how to buy. If all doesn't go well, we can probably move in first thing next week. If all goes badly...no, best not to think along those lines.

But this is a teaching blog, yes? Today, with no true home to go to and a lot still to do, I ended up staying over three hours later, but I accomplished a lot and, while I'm not quite there yet, I'm pretty much ready for the first day of full classes tomorrow. Three sections of geometry, and one of first year algebra. That last one worries me, because as it stands right now, I think I have thirty-nine students in a classroom big enough for only about thirty, and seating right now for only twenty-four! But my principal assures me that we will get it worked out. So I get to trek in early tomorrow, gather a few more supplies and get a few more things done, and then...Well, I don't know, actually. Tune in next time to find out!

Weekend update

I'm back in the old home for a few days. Things are progressing well, but I still have a lot to do here this weekend, too. I'm driving back over early Monday morning to finish arranging and decorating my classroom, and I may actually be ready, and still have a chance for some (but not much) relaxing this weekend.

On the house front, it finally looks like we may be nearing the end of the tunnel, but it's still a pretty small light. Everything is lined up now except the escrow, but they're going to take five business days. With next Monday being a holiday, it looks like we won't be able to close until September 2 at the earliest. Oh, yay, another week in a hotel for me.

Two steps forward, two steps back

Things are still going well, under the circumstances. I now have a key to my room, and there's progress in getting it ready. The old science stuff will be moved out tomorrow, arrangements are being made to move in desks, and there's a fresh coat of paint. I also put together a chart, for myself more than anyone, of what's happening in the first few lessons, including the problems, vocabulary, and what materials we'll need. That looks pretty manageable.

I also pulled out my copy of The First Days of School to refresh myself and make sure I'm on the right track. Let's just say that I'm not pleased. Granted, I have no room yet, no home in the area (yet), no school computer, and I'm living out of a hotel room. Under those circumstances, I'm doing all right. But I have no procedures, no rules, and little idea of how to start things off on a positive note. After the disaster of my last contracted job, I vowed not to do that again, but I'm not sure if I can. Still, I have a little time next Monday, and a few other opportunities this week before I head back to the old house this weekend, so it may still happen. I just have to keep moving forward and trust that I can enough taken care of.

Today we started work and training in the school's new discipline plan. It looks good, it makes sense, it's positive, it reinforces expected behaviors, and I really wish I had this in my last job. Heck, I wish I'd had this sort of background and support when I started teaching.

We will definitely not be moving this week or weekend, so probably a few more days in the hotel next week until we get it all put together and finally sign. Even then, we're going to just be camping out in our new place for a few days until we can arrange for movers and new appliances (like we can afford that!). Meanwhile, Laura's looking at the options on the old house, which could include trying to sell again, or renting it out.

I'd better stop now, or I won't have anything to say tomorrow!

Son of a fuzzy elephant!

The new job starts in two days, and I have to start it without a house. Our attempt to buy a house has run afoul of a bunch of red tape and waiting-around-for-paperwork, so I'm going to be living out of a motel for at least a couple of days. We've had to postpone the move twice already, and our current one is the day before the first student day. So I will have to come back over the weekend, help get things ready to move, then book it back to the new place—if we have a house to move into by then. Needless to say, I am not confident about how prepared I will be for my classes. Meanwhile, the guy who put in an offer to buy our current house kept delaying and delaying, finally did an inspection, found a whole bunch of problems that we already knew about and had fully disclosed, and counter-counter-counteroffered with an insultingly low price that probably wasn't even as much as the land is worth. Needless to say, he turned down our final offer, we're walking away, and we're back at square one. Now we have to decide if we want to rent this place out, put it back on the market after we're fully out of here, or sell to a flipper or developer. I'm nervous enough about moving and starting a new job, and now I have to make these types of decisions?

Five years ago, and one week to go

My wife tells me that "I Am a Teacher" debuted five years ago today. And man, what an interesting five years it's been! At that time, I was in a similar position to where I am today: Excited about starting a new job. Back then, however, I didn't know about the impending strike or the other problems I would have. Now, I'm older and warier, but at least I think I have a more realistic idea of what I'm getting into, and what I have to do to succeed.

The new job starts one week from tomorrow with workshops and some other before-school-starts stuff. It's going to be tight, as I'll have to go over there before our stuff arrives (and, if things don't go so well, before I even move into our new house). It's going to be hectic and stressful and nerve-wracking, but once things get started, I suspect it will settle down pretty quickly.

The workshop last weekend was a good experience, and I think I'm really going to enjoy this curriculum. It turns out, by the way, that I'm not teaching first year algebra at all. Instead, I think I'll be teaching four sections of Geometry and one of Algebra II. Cool!

This week, lots of last-minute packing (as I'm watching as much of the Olympics as I can!), sealing the deal on Friday, then getting utilities switched on, off, or switched over while we inform just about everyone we can about the new phone number and address. Whee!

I've started the new job!

Okay, I've sort of started the new job. The district has put me up in a nice lakeside hotel on the other end of the state for training in the new curriculum I'll be using. And yes, that includes meals and mileage. They're being extremely nice to me, and I haven't even met any of my students or most of my colleagues. First day (of three) went well today. Nothing terribly earth-shatteringly new or different, but it does look like a good program, and I think students will enjoy it.

Meanwhile, while I'm here, Laura is at home making final arrangements for the move and everything else that can get done there, which isn't much now. We're tentatively moving on the 15th now, which is cutting it close: The new job starts on the 18th, although the first student day isn't until the 26th. It is going to be very tight getting moved into our new house and my new classroom and getting set up for the start of school and everything else. But we're on top of it, and it's probably going to go all right in the end.

It's official!

Today, I signed the contract for my new job. It still doesn't have a dollar amount in it, as they haven't gotten all the paperwork back yet from some of the districts I've worked in, but that's a small detail. The important thing is, it's official. Now all I have to do is the training for the new curriculum next week, wait for the paperwork to wend its way through the bureaucracy to get our new house, wait for the inspection so that we can close on the old house and move out (at last!), and set up. I am usually a patient man, but all this waiting around is starting to drive me up a wall.

One month to go...

One month from today is the first day of school for students in my new district. Still lots to do before then, including three days of training in the new curriculum and a week of other stuff with just the faculty. Plus finalize all of the paperwork, buy the new house, move in, and start setting things up there.

A Jolt of Excitement

As a new hire in a new district, they have to do a criminal background check. This involves taking fingerprints. No problem, I've had it done before. But when I went in a few weeks ago to the local (to my new district) ESD office to get prints, they had a fancy digital fingerprint machine that kept getting smudgy images. The technician did what he could, but it clearly wasn't enough, as the state patrol rejected them. Now what? The district sent the prints back to me, they arrived yesterday, and I called the state office for advice. "Well, you could go to the state patrol office in the state capital and get them redone there." I was out the door within fifteen minutes. To be sure, it's not a short trip, but it beats heading to the other side of the state to try it again on a malfunctioning digital machine. I got there in a little over an hour, got a nice set of clean, crisp prints (done with old fashioned ink), and was back before the evening rush hour even got bad. Since I had no other big plans for the day, it all worked out well.

In the meantime, we're still trying to buy a new house and get this old place cleaned and pressed to show other potential buyers. We're going to have to bite the bullet and pay someone to clear out the jungle back yard, it appears, as that's already scared off some potential buyers. Yeah, like we can afford that, too...

The waiting is the hardest part

Not much to report right now, other than that we're waiting for a lot of stuff. I'm waiting for some paperwork so that I can complete my hiring file in the new district. Meanwhile, we're both waiting for some other information so that we can buy a house in our new neighborhood. Everything is just about packed and ready to go, all we need now is a place to take it to. If we can get the house we're looking at, great. If not, we may have to rent a place until we can find a house. And we are not looking forward to having to move twice. But there's also still time, so perhaps we should just get a rein on our impatience and enjoy the down time while we have it. But I want to know what's happening soon!

The countdown continues...

I just realized that my new job officially starts one month from TODAY! Also, I interviewed for it a whole four weeks ago today. Where did the time go? Into packing and cleaning, mostly, as we're trying to sell this house and buy a new one in the neighborhood of the new school. So far it's going well, but slow enough to make Laura and me both nervous. The packing is going well, however, and I suspect we won't have a lot of trouble getting out of here once we know where we're sending everything. The training for my new curriculum starts as early as a week and a half from now, too. I'm just waiting to see when and where that will be. Yeek! This is really happening!

Still going...

Things are still moving forward. I took a bunch of paperwork to my new district office, and got fingerprints, the other day, so that's well underway. We also did a little house hunting, and may have found a place. Now all we need to do is sell our old house and find out what my new salary will be before we can get it. And in today's market, selling our old house may be tough. At least we've made some big improvements, and it's in a terrific location.

Some good news is that my new district is going to count my time as a sub when placing me on the district pay scale! That will give me a nice little boost in salary.

Er, not much else to say right now, really. I just want to get moved over there so that I can get ready to actually teach something soon!

Now it's REALLY official!

It took a week and a half, but Mr. Postman delivered a nice large package from my new employers. There's lots and lots of paperwork in it for me to deal with. So now I have that to deal with as well as packing up to get the house on the market next week. But we should be able to head out there soon, drop off the paperwork, get a storage unit (yes, we're starting as soon as possible), and start looking for a new home there.

Wow, this is really happening!

And it just keeps going on...

Man, we have a lot of stuff! It's slowly making its way into boxes and out into the garage so that we can start showing the house to potential customers starting next week, but it is slow going, despite the whirlwind of activity around here the past week. What's really scary is we don't even know where we're going to live yet. I'm waiting for the contract and other paperwork first so that I can take it all over there, get a self-storage locker, then start house hunting. With the speed this is progressing, we're probably going to rent a small house for a year, which should give us more time and a bigger financial cushion to find a house to buy next summer.

But meanwhile, we have the packing and prepping the house. Both of our families have been a big help so far, and more is coming. My mother brought a bunch of boxes and pulled a lot of weeds in the front yard, and my dad is bringing his truck to haul lots of stuff to the dump—after bringing a lot more boxes from my sister. With my parents having my grandparents, themselves, and them my sister and her family in the last few years, they're getting very good at this. But the best part is, after we move, they likely won't have to help anyone again for a while! (My in-laws, who are also helping, have a lot more kids, however, so they may be just warming up.)

One bunch of stuff I'm making sure to keep track of is stuff for my classroom. They're being packed separately, and we're planning on taking them with us in one of the cars, not trusting them to get lost among everything else. Then I can make sure they get in my room and spend some of my prep time before the students come sorting through it all—at least, that's the plan. I'm not so inexperienced that I think I'll have all the time in the world to do it!

One little bit of surrealism today: I actually got a call to sub! A math teacher at the summer institute needs someone to take over for a few days later this month, and I believe I was one of the first she called. But between the move and another event going on at the same time, I had to turn it down. At least she was happy about the reason.

Okay, back to packing boxes and putting them in the garage...