Gotta go back, (back!) back, back to school againnnn

Well, back to school week it is. Not officially (that doesn't start until next week), but in preparation for the early mornings and long days ahead of me, I am making myself go into work everyday this week. Yesterday, I shot for going in around 9:00. I got there at 1:30. I think I need a better handle on my time management skills.

When I finally stepped into my classroom though, surfaces bright and shiny, carpet freshly cleaned, something hit me: it was like had never left. Was it really hard for me to get up that morning? Absolutely. Did I panic when I looked at the things I still have to get done? MMmmhmm. But behind all of that, stepping into my classroom still felt (and I apologize for the uber-corniness in advance) like home. Kind of stupid, I know. I guess it just hit me that, yeah I have a list of all kinds of things I want to change but overall I'm going into this year more familiar with everything. That can only help me out.

I spent the next four hours going through boxes of supplies I had ordered (I still get excited like a seven year old about new school supplies), geeking out over two new grammar books that had arrived in the mail, and beginning to organize myself until kingdom come. I rearranged some desks, took down posters (leaving lots of blank wall space with which I have no idea what to do now), and checked many a email. When I left at 5:30 I wondered to myself what I had actually accomplished, because I mostly spent the time running around starting one thing, then switching to something else, then pausing to add four things to my ever-growing lists. But I digress...the main point here is that it was surprisingly easy to fall back into school/teacher mindset, especially since I've been trying to avoid it for a good chunk of the summer :) This made me very happy, thus the blog post, because this week would have been mind-numbingly painful if all I was thinking all day was "I want to go home!"

Plan of attack for today: Attempt to move a large and heavy bookshelf by myself to the other side of the room; take down more posters and decide what to fill that dang blank space with; go through the desk drawers which I shoved with crap while trying to "clean out" on the last day of school; make bulletin boards for "how to get published" and "quotes we love". If any of you are betting people, don't put any money on me getting all of that done.