Fadedwords

Things were better yesterday, and even though I’m busy today in my office, it’s going well today.  It’s going to be a slow process here, which I perhaps should have expected.  It’s difficult to go from a place where you have many friends that you work with, to a place where you have none.

It will come.

I turned in my ‘counselor referral’ form, as well as my introduction to me letter and needs assessment for the teachers.  My principal hasn’t given them back yet… although I think I’ll check with her to be sure that it’s ok for me to hand them out. 

Today I’m searching for good Character Education lesson plans.  I start presenting to classes in September, with the character trait of Respect.  I’ve found some pretty good lessons for the grade levels already.  I’m having more trouble coming up with plans for the trait ‘perseverance’.  It’ll come.  I’ve got a couple character ed lesson plan books on order, and I have another on my amazon.com wishlist that I plan to order tonight when I get home.  I want the lessons to go well.  Never having taught children of this age makes me nervous, but I know I’ll get the hang of it.  The teachers I’ve met have offered their help too, so that makes me feel better. 

Are there any educators reading?  If so, what do you suggest for teaching the different character traits to young students?  I’ve got several Berenstain Bears books, which of course I wouldn’t use with 4th or 5th graders.  I have lessons that center around ‘The Grouchy Ladybug’ and some of the ‘Clifford’ books… also for young kids.  I plan to order some more books for the older groups… or see if we have them in the media center here.  What have you seen that’s been effective?  What have you done?  This goes for parents too: What would you use or want used to help teach your child about character traits? 

I’m prepared to go in and do my Intro to the Counselor lesson in all the classes.  I just need to make up my props for the different grade levels.  I hope to do these lessons the second week of school, but I need to check with the principal to be certain she agrees this is important.  I don’t want to take too much time… just 15 minutes (tops) per class.  Hopefully this will be ok; as a new staff member I think it’s really important that students are introduced and given an opportunity to ask me questions.

One thing I really like about this school, is that they have included teacher websites as a part of their school improvement plan.  This means that every teacher/staff member is allotted webspace on the district server and they are expected to create and maintain that space.  I don’t have access to my space yet, but I am incredibly excited to begin work on it.  I’m determined to have a stellar spot that parents, students and teachers can access and utilize.  I’ve already done some outlining on what I want the site to hold, and I’m really hoping I get access to my space soon.

On a completely different topic: I went to see Rascal Flatts on Sunday with Courtney, Paul, Aren, and ‘Phil’.  It was a wonderful show.  Jason Aldean opened for them, and he was just fantastic.  I hadn’t heard much by him before the concert, only Amarillo Sky and Relentless.  After seeing him live, I’m tempted to buy one or two of his CDs.  Rascal Flatts was out of this world.  Hopefully I’ll get to see them live again.  It was a good way to end the summer… with friends that have been simply amazing.  I am incredibly lucky to know them and have them in my life.  It’ll be some time before I see them again (probably the end of September), which is the hardest part of moving up to Clayton.  The next party will be a big one, and that’s a consolation. 

I should be working.  *smile* Thank you to everyone for the comments on my last entry.  It is getting better.  Slowly but surely.