Today was my first day teaching at WEMS. I spent most of the day as a "classroom helper" for an 8th grade math teacher, since I am a specials teacher and don't have a homeroom or classes until Wednesday.
For the most part, the students stayed in the homeroom and went over housekeeping matters, played a couple of games, and socialized. At times I felt a little useless, but I also did a lot of running around to do small tasks.
The teacher is Miss To, and she was very welcoming and friendly. Probably because I'm new and was only hired Friday, there was another helper, Mr. McBaron, who is an aide/learning specialist. He was very friendly and helpful too. Both of them allowed me to duck out a couple of times to work on setting up my classroom a bit. I also met one of the assistant principals, as well as a handful of other teachers, but I don't think I'll remember their names yet.
Overall, the kids were very friendly, as was the staff, and I'm feeling good about taking this position. I had been slightly concerned before school today, with the old building, the unfamiliar demographic, and just a new situation after so many years in Spencer, but a lot of that has subsided.
I'm anxious about some of the logistics -- getting an email, finding out rosters, etc -- but I don't want to bother the principal since he has his hands full. I'm sure all these will fall in to place. Maybe I'll ask at the end of the week if nothing happens first.
