Human Voices Wake Us

In the past 6 weeks, I’ve been spit on approximately 4 times – all from boys.  Why is it that spitting is a reaction to things not going right?  Is it just a male thing?  I have never thought about spitting as a way to express my displeasure.  I do believe that to spit on someone is to show extreme disrespect.  Do boys spit on people because they know that or because they just like to spit?  Is this learned behavior? 

It’s been awhile since my last post – duh.  I’ve been busy trying to figure out how to be an elementary assistant principal.  News flash – I need to give up that pipe dream.  I like to have a plan, like to be proactive, like to know what’s going on.  One of my mentors told me to “get over it.”  It’s the best thing advice about this job I’ve received so far.  I was told that this job is “reactive,” ie: me reacting to kicking 1^st graders, me reacting to teachers wanting their textbooks, me reacting to spills in the boys’ bathroom (so far none in the girls’ bathroom-why is this?).  So I guess I will just go with the flow.  Calm down.  Get over it.  But please, if you have any other advice that will help me, send it my way.  (It will at least give me reading material while I’m waiting for something to happen.)

Well, I’ve accepted a position as an assistant principal of an elementary school.  This is significant, to me, because I have spent all 15 years of my educational career working with high school students.  Now I’m going to the other end of the spectrum.  I think I’m delaying the hysteria by telling myself the following: my husband’s an elementary principal (but he doesn’t have that many words to use a day, so I don’t get a whole lot of information), my sister-in-law used to teach first grade (really lame), and I have boys at both ends of the elementary spectrum- 5 and 12.   I think my glimpse into hysteria came yesterday when my husband mentioned “cold lam,” and I had no idea what he was talking about.  (He used about 10 words to explain.) 

Truthfully, I’m very excited to start my new adventure with little ones.  I’ve been told by many that elementary teachers are very different from high school teachers.  (Concrete sequential vs random abstract)  Another weird thing is that my new school ( I love saying that) has about 22 teachers and the high school I came from had 120.  I think I’ll enjoy actually recognizing all the faces, though. 

I’ve informed my husband that I have to go shopping to #1 buy things for my office and #2 buy shoes without heels.   Yea field day!

One of my bosses suggested that I keep a chronicle of my first year, a “secondary person in an elementary world,” so this is how I’m going to do it.  I hope you enjoy my adventures, and, please, I’m open to any and all advice from those of you already living in Elementary Land.