First Day of School!

       Today was the first day of school with kids. As you can see by my T-shirt, I am a Baird Staffulty member. I got a kick out of that. They gave us all T-shirts and asked us to please wear them on the first day. Done!

      It was an interesting day today. Things were a bit messy, but what first day of school goes perfectly smoothly? I was very chill because I had zero anxiety. I knew they were not going to change my schedule. I knew I was not going to have to go into a class of 20 or more (sometimes less) kids that I didn't know and learn a bunch of names. For me, it was a really stress-free first day of school. I only kind of knew what I was doing, we did a lot of winging it, but it was a really good time. I REALLY love the people I am working with. We spent the day supporting each other and making sure everyone was covered to do whatever they needed to do. Even with last minute (class) schedule changes, program materials being MIA, and some of us being super brand new to the school (we have a para helping us from an outside agency until they hire someone permanently... lol), I thought things were pretty good. 

    I am very much looking forward to about the second week of September. I figure by that time we will either have found or recreated/replaced the program materials we need. By the second week of September we will have settled in and we'll know how to work with each of the kids. By the second week of September I am really confident that our group will run like a well oiled machine. I am super excited for this year. 

     Other things that happened today; I met, or re-met a lot of people. I asked for reminders on names (and other people asked those same reminders of me), I finally asked some custodians I have literally know for years (they are sometimes at the high school) what their names are. You should always make friends with the custodians after all. I met the music teacher, since the kids will have music every afternoon (awesome!) and he is not only OK with having our kids for a class, he is enthusiastic about it. He was also asking us if we had any ideas on what things we should do in class. I told him about the drum circles Travis used to do in drum lab, and how everyone loved the class. You learn different rhythms, on different types of drums, and Fridays were just a free-form drum circle. So who knows, maybe we recreate a little bit of East Longmeadow High School drum lab, but at Baird Middle school, and I will get to participate this time!

     I am sure I will have days where I move WAY more than I did today. I didn't go to PE, because the kid I was working with at that time needed to have a quick rest. I didn't get up and dance because moving quickly is still not totally comfortable. And I didn't work with the super active kid who requires a lot of movement from us. So yeah, not only do I have a position that makes me immensely happy, but I get a built in workout every day! And in other fabulous news, yesterday I had a post-surgical follow-up with my primary care doctor and my blood pressure is back to being perfect. Just an hour or so of collaboration with my new colleagues, the idea in my head about working with the happiest kids on the planet, and I am back to normal. After months of elevated blood pressure. Today was very tiring but it was an excellent day. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.