Back In The Swing of Things...Finally

It certainly has been an interesting couple of weeks!  This probably has been one of the hardest school openings I've ever experienced, even harder than the year I went to a brand new school, and we weren't ready on Labor Day to open, though the students came anyway the next day!

Coming back on Wednesday and finding all of my things missing, at least the important stuff, was really hard to take.  Luckily, I've retrieved most of my stuff.  I've lost things of sentimental value, I've lost student work, I've lost a binder or two, but I've got most of my teaching "debris" back.  Mrs. Cook and I spent a good portion of our first days back looking for stuff.  I am so happy that she found her bronzed cowboy boot which is her pencil holder on her desk.  The boot has sentimental value for her, and something like that just cannot be replaced.

Just look at the scene below.  This is just one of the many places where we searched for our beloved stuff.  Unbelievable and overwhelming!

The Old Clover Hill High School Gym

Imagine searching through rooms like this with boxes.  We found a lot of our stuff in boxes labeled "library" or "home ec".  One day, all I found was a post-it note that I had written on the last week of school in June.  It was in a random box.  Weird.

 

Luckily, you all came back to school, and believe it or not, things seemed a bit more normal as we began our daily teaching.  When my seventh graders arrived on the first day of school, it was great to see familiar faces from last year!  Something that I knew!   I look forward to a great year with both of my grades.  Hopefully you will enjoy your year as a Venturer in 6th grade or a Navigator in 7th grade.  

The picture below shows my 7th grade class working on tower structures of states.  The towers were built according to geographic region.  These students won the competition by having the tallest structure.  They've earned bonus points on their states and capitals test coming up next week!!!

Cameron, Isabell, Patrick, Joey, and Zach are victorious!

First You Cry, Then You Laugh

What a week this has been.  I would have never dreamed in a million years that my week would have gone like this.  I have kept telling myself throughout this all that this could have been worse, and I've had great friends at Robious.  We have helped each other through this process and I think we've all become closer!

1.  School was closed on Monday and Tuesday because of the hurricane.  That's okay..I said to myself..two extra days of relaxing before the storm began...The storm?  Going through all of my stuff that had been "cleaned" from the fire in July.  I was told that all of my stuff was boxed up and in my room....
2.  I get to school on Wednesday, and I had zillions of boxes in my room, all labeled with McEwen, room 315....I opened box after box and found nothing of mine.  Occasionally I would find a couple of items mixed in with other teachers' stuff...in one box there was foreign language stuff along with home ec stuff....it made no sense.
3.  So after the boxes were sorted through, I went around the school looking.  I did manage to find a few other things, but nothing IMPORTANT like my teaching binders. 
4.  In the afternoon, on Wednesday, I really had nothing to do...I couldn't run stuff off for this coming week, because those binders were missing...so I decided to go through the stuff that was mine to put into my big metallic black cabinet....well, the door to the cabinet fell off, I guess it was damaged when they removed it...so I decided to put the stuff in my one remaining filing cabinet...that was so jammed that I couldn't open the doors...I went to Mr. Siddiqi and told him I just didn't know what I could do and I guess he could tell I was upset...so...I got a new teacher's desk, a new black cabinet, and two filing cabinets..and new student desks!  No new chairs...they are still circa 1970, but I got new desks...
5.  On Thursday, I went to the old Clover Hill High School to look for my stuff...some of the teaching supplies were brought there after the fire.  I managed to find amongst thousands of boxes my U.S. Constitution binder....
6.  On Friday, Mrs. Cook and I went to a warehouse where other things were stored and we found quite a bit of our teaching materials...still not everything.  Some of the stuff they wouldn't let us take....which was frustrating.  Students, picture the scene...some guy is telling Mrs. Cook that she cannot take her stuff...imagine her eyes...are you smiling?  I couldn't help but smile myself, and I needed to smile!  She was not a happy camper, nor was I, but she really doesn't hide what she's thinking, does she?
7.  Yesterday, Mrs. Cook and I managed to get our rooms set up as we hadn't had time during teacher workweek.
8.  Today, we are going to Clover Hill again as some of the stuff from the warehouse has been brought there.  Our last attempt to retrieve our "educational debris".  Now, sadly, it really is debris.

Three things have gotten me through this....
A.  Mrs. Cook and I working together to find our beloved stuff.  I found pictures that were destroyed of my family, of friends, which upset me, but then I found random pictures of myself that I didn't even know I had.  I found a picture of me with my class from decades ago, and it brought tears to my eyes.
B.  I got my class rolls...of course, I have no clue about any of my sixth graders, but when I got my one seventh grade class, I actually looked on the list of students and smiled.  The first time I had smiled in a long time.  Why?  I saw something familiar, something that would help me realize why I even became a teacher in the first place.  For you seventh graders that have me again, I hope it is what you wanted...if not, I am sorry...
C.  The kindness and generosity of everyone has been simply overwhelming.  I cannot thank everyone enough for their offers of help.  I have turned down many offers not because I don't want help, but I just needed time to process the loss, and time to look through my stuff for anything salvageable.  That is something only I can do. 

So, with the new year beginning, I realize a lot can happen that no one can predict.  I am looking forward to a good school year....it has started off a bit shaky, but there's nowhere to go but up.

This afternoon I am off to Clover Hill High School to continue my quest for more of my "debris".  Mrs. Cook will be along there with me... Wish us luck!