Back again, with a bang.

Spent the summer depressed, largely. Didn't get any of the German jobs I applied for, my car died, substitute teaching was obnoxious, I basically suffered a crisis of faith. I all but ran out of money before the school distric sent me a letter last Wednesday, saying that I should come in on Tuesday to select a position.
After a weekend of utter insanity, coffee, and spreadsheets, I went on Tuesday to pick a school. I managed to get one in my top 5, about which I had been a bit nervous since I wasn't in the first group that day to choose. However, they'd sent a representative, and -- possibly more important -- they had a grade level I wanted (3rd). So I went with it.

Went in to have a look around today. Met the principal, who strikes me as a floral-print outside with a core of steel (about what you want, really), and she introduced me round to all the teachers. I then spent about an hour in my classroom-to-be, taking a few notes and making lists of things I need (Oh, my G/god(s), EVERYTHING). I'll be back in tomorrow for more observation, and probably more list-making. I'm not sure whether to start bringing stuff in yet or not. There isn't much in the classroom, but what there is seems largely to belong to someone else. Maybe I'll bring my plants, at least -- they're pretty obviously mine. And who knows when the person whose office my classroom used to be will get the rest of her stuff out. O_o

The major bright side to this assignment is that I've only got 16 kids. I didn't get a chance to get too much of a feel for them yet, but they seem like nice kids. None of them seem like they'll be too difficult to deal with, and whatever bad habits they've developed over the last couple of weeks don't seem to be too terrible. There's one who's a bit scattered, and one who seems a bit sullen, but hopefully once they've actually got a settled routine things will be easier.

So for the moment, I need to keep making a list of things I need, and work on a letter to the parents introducing myself. I'm trying to think about management things... guess it's time to dig out my master's books.