First day teaching at Herron

I entered door one promptly at 8 a.m. I was told to follow Mr. Bilbrey, (a cyclist like me) to the Lyceum in the main building where the entire staff was assembled for their weekly professional development meeting. This was quite a way to break the new guy in, having to walk into a room full of teachers just about to begin a meeting. I tried to look as inconspicuous as possible as I sat down next to my department chair, Mr. Renwick. I knew I would like him right away, because he resembles Dave Grohl and was wearing a Wu Tang Clan T-shirt (there is a relaxed dress code on Fridays).

The sage on the stage for this meeting was Assistant Head of School, Mr. Gilchrist who was present for my interview just four days prior. Mr. Gilchrist, as you might imagine, being in such a high ranking position was impeccably dressed, no Wu Tang t-shirt. I enjoyed how he injected his dry, sarcastic humor into the meeting; it really served to lighten the mood. One teacher raised his hand and asked, "Can I ask a catch-up question?" Mr. Gilchrist responded with, "No, we only ask mustard questions here." One teacher spoke for a couple of minutes summarizing the efforts of his team on the recently completed ISTEP exam, praising them for their volunteerism and tireless dedication. As he concluded his remarks, Mr. Gilchrist, with a completely straight face asked, "Mm Hmm . . so what did YOU do?"

Mr. Renwick was my tour guide for the day. We started with the classroom in which I will be teaching, right next door to his. This is a feeling that I have now experienced twice, and it's a glorious one, that first moment that you step into your very own space and immediately begin to anticipate the creative projects that will happen and that memories that will be made. I will however be sharing this room with two other teachers.

I observed Mr. Renwick's advanced painting class and flooded him with a wide range of questions throughout the day. I am being thrown into the fire, so I must absorb as much as possible in a short span of time. I walked around and connected with students as much as possible. I was floored by the fact that I could speak to them using art terminology offering suggestions that could enhance their compositions, and they not only heard, but understood every single word of what I was saying!

Mr. Renwick and I had salads from the cafeteria in his classroom, and then I got a chance to finish the day by observing the one class that I will be teaching on A days, block four, Intro to 2D. As it turns out, there are two former students of mine on the roster and believe it or not, they are two of my favorites. Being an intro class, I will have mostly underclassmen. The age differential is evident, but they were still very well behaved. They are a little bit chatty, and their normal classroom teacher would prefer silence, but I will tolerate a low volume so long as they are being productive.

When I left for the day, the sun was shining with the promise of something new.