Team Leader

With the change in administration, there was a change in leadership on the lower levels. This mean't that the chosen ones were no longer chosen anymore. I returned to school only to find that I had been appointed team leader. Although, I wasn't too happy with this appointment for vain reasons, I accepted and began the task of bringing together a team of people who really weren't liking the changes that were taking place. At the end, of this first week, I can see a small difference in the attitudes of my team. After the first few days of professional dress violations, classroom management inadequacies, and general defiance. We have seemed to have found a middle ground. I had to learn to be more firm and they had to learn to be more flexible.

Being a team leader means being a part of the school's leadership team. Our job is to discuss and decide what is in the best interest of the staff and students at the school. This role is important and I'm taking it very seriously.

I write about this and I think on my experiences during Holly Springs Summer School. Several times after things happened with the teachers in my room, I would ask, "Why me?" I have now received the answer to that question. God was preparing for the newest assignment he had for me. This year will definitely be easier because of the experience at Holly Springs.

The First Week of School

The first week of school this year has been immensely better than last year, because of the change in administration at my school. The students are better behaved and their are very few problems. Mostly, the school is operating very smooth. As always with change, there are things to get used to. We have a new bell and rotation schedule which is extremely confusing until you've experienced it for about a week. (We finally understood it yesterday.) We have to walk our students everywhere, now. We no longer have morning duty, but now have afternoon duty. Simple things that just require adjusting too. Our textbooks have been passed out already and for the most part there have been no schedule changes. There is no chaos. This is very strange. We even changed classes on the first day of school this year. This freaked us out. No one was prepared to see all of their classes. We'd never gotten past first period before.

I am very pleased with our new principal. He is easy to converse with and even makes jokes. (Can you believe that?) He really values his teachers opinions and doesn't mind suggestions or questions. This is a new thing at Brinkley. The staff is actually happy, which has made a huge difference in the school climate. We come to work early and stay late by choice. It is the most amazing thing.

I'm really excited about this year. Compared to the year we had anything would be better, but it appears that this year is going to really be great.