I Don't Have to Prove Myself

 ^not me^

So, I've officially started my new job as 5th grade teacher as of today. The teachers are back on contract, but we don't have students until NEXT Tuesday. Which is also my 29th birthday. Anyway, back to my point I was trying to get to before I start rambling off into space.

I've now met all of my colleagues except one who's not been at the school yet due to family issues, and from what I've heard keeps to herself all the time anyway. There are a total of 8 5th grade teachers in our school. 5 of them have made me feel super welcome and comfortable ever since I thought I might be getting the job. I met 4 of them at professional development curriculum workshops the week between getting the call from the principal and the "official" call from Human Resources. They were super nice, come to check on me, joke with me like I'm already a part of the crew, and one has even come to *me* for teaching advice.

But if you do the math, here, that means there's one more teacher who doesn't fit into either of the above categories. And of course, she's the one who I share an office with and have to team-teach with. Right now, she's making me feel like I've got to prove myself to her for me to be accepted. I feel like she resents me because I took the position her best friend vacated. It really was bothering me, when I first started dwelling on it, because I'm honestly not used to people automatically not liking me without ever getting to know me.

Then I started thinking (along with encouragement from the Hub) that I don't need her approval for multiple reasons. First, I know I'm a good teacher. Parents are whining that I'm not at the middle school anymore because I taught their older kids and now they have more that are going into 6th grade, and they were hoping I'd be one of their teachers. Apparently, now there are parents making requests for me at the elementary school already. So, see, I know I must be good. The kids and parents like me for the most part. (And I'm not always the nicest teacher. I have high expectations of work quality and behavior.) Second, it dawned on me that this teacher that's making me feel this way is younger and has less experience than me! I definitely don't need to prove myself to a teacher who's been doing this less time than I have, no matter how great she thinks she is.

Plus she talks down to me and words things in a way that makes it sound like she's doing me a favor, like by "saving" me from having to plan both science and social studies, when she's just doing that because she doesn't want to teach social studies (because she's always taught science - always being the previous two school years). Or that she graciously "took over" the low-level math class that the teacher I replaced had taught the year before so I wouldn't have to "get dumped on". Seriously? Do yourself a favor, and stop being a martyr. You should be doing this to help the kids in the best way possible, not to make yourself look like a saint!

So, I've decided I'm going to tolerate her "living" next door to me until Thanksgiving, then pray when she goes out on maternity leave, that she does decide to stay out for the rest of the year. I just don't want to deal with such condescension on a daily basis.  It's not worth it. I'm better than that. I'm just going to go out there, do my thing even if it is different than the way she's "always" done it, and do what's best for my students. And continue to shake off the feeling that I need to demonstrate that I am, indeed, a good teacher and a fun human being. (Plus I like talking with the teacher across the hall better, anyway. She'll be my friend and let me vent. I can tell already!)

6 more days to get my room (and lessons) ready before the students walk through my door for the first time!!

Handmade Geek

One of the best things about the blogging and Twitter world is that you come into contact with amazing people, like these crafters who make fun, geeky stuff.  Worthy, even, of a place on our shelves of geek toys in the living room!

First off, there are adorably evil crocheted Cthulhus. They're made by @ruthbeingruth who is also known as @cthulhuchick. If you're interested, you can find them on her Etsy page. She's also got a blog about the project which is quite fun! You can see the journey of CthulhuCthulhu, the conjoined-twin elder god.

Picture from CthulhuChick.com

There are also three incredible ladies who make geek soap! First, Kylee of Luxury Lane Soap. She's so amazing, FOX sent her a cease and desist letter about her "Fight Club" soap. Plus she's the proud owner of a seriously cool Boba Fett tattoo! She's also the one who makes Han Solo in Carbonite soap. You might've heard about it, if you're awesome. It's pretty incredible.

Picture from Luxury Lane Soap

Then there's @GeekyClean who has all sorts of amazing geeky clean soaps, but seems to be most known for her soaps that come with imbedded d20s, TetraSoap, and the Death Bar.

Last, but most certainly not least, is Lesley of GeekSoap. She and I both have schnauzers and are teachers. Yay! Plus her turnaround time on orders was seriously fast! I ordered her d20 soap on a rope and a <3 soap for the hub. She's also got Iron Man arc reactors, Dr. Who, Hitchhiker's Guide, and The Monarch soaps. How cool are those?

I got a few of these things for the hubs for our anniversary.

Kylee and Lesley also started a site to highlight cool geeks who make geeky stuff. Check out G33Kmade when you get a chance!

Worst (or Best?) Teacher Ever

We are now T-minus two and a half days until I am free of kiddos for twelve glorious weeks. That being said, my class has been the best class ever for students to come to for the last week or so. I say that because the English curriculum basically tells me to do a project and teach a novel study for the last few weeks after state testing is done. All of our "real teaching" is done before the testing.

My students completed the epic Middle Ages research project and Keynote (yes, we're an all Apple school) presentations that took all of three weeks. Then they wrote a theme analysis of a novel we read in class back in March. This was their end of the year "Writing Assessment" we must complete for the district.

After that, all bets are off. I can't logically teach a novel study because (a) I just taught one six weeks prior and (b) the students are reading a novel in Science class (Hoot) and in World History class (Catherine, Called Birdy). Do I really need to confuse the 12-year-olds even more?!

So, yeah, here's what my class has looked like since last Thursday:
Thursday, Friday, and part of Monday - Watch From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler because one of my classes read it in March. The other classes read The 39 Clues: Maze of Bones, and there is not yet a film version of that book.
Other part of Monday - Make students organize all of their writing assessments from 6th grade in their writing portfolios because I don't want to do that for 100 folders.
Tuesday through whenever it takes - All classes now watch The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe while the teacher takes down bulletin boards and packs up classroom. Why this you ask? Because it's based on YA literature, was on my syllabus, and is easily justifiable if questioned. Oh, and it's ridiculously long.

So, does this make me a teacher made of awesome or of fail? I don't care. It's made me a teacher free of stress.