The Adventures of a First Year Middle School Teacher

Papers

The first thing that Sandra did when hired was to go to the central office where she had to provide her identification records and school records. As she arrived, so did two other people. A short blond hair young woman was accompanied by a semi-long dark blond guy several feet taller than her. Sandra walked towards the office as they did and got a better glimpse at them. They looked about her age and it seemed to her that they were a couple.

They reached the door before she did. The guy opened the door and waited for the young woman beside him to go through the door and stood by the door and held it open for Sandra to walk through as well. She smiled and thanked him as she went in. She could not resist to ask what she already knew.

- "Are you both new hires for the system as well?"

-"Yes! We just got hired at Central Middle School. This is my first year teaching." Replied the young woman pleasingly.

-"That's where I have been hired as well. This is my first year teaching too." Sandra was pleasantly surprised. She did not mind meeting new people and was eager to establish relationships within the place she was about to work.

-"I will be teaching fourth grade English and he will be teaching physical education. How about you?"

-" I will be teaching seventh grade English/Reading. I guess we are going to be co-workers." She smiled at both of them as she talked. The guy got closer to the young woman across from Sandra.

-"My name is Bailey by the way and his name is Ryan." She placed her hand on her chest as she told Sandra her name and then put her hand on Ryan's arm as she introduced him.

- "My name is Sandra and it is really nice to meet you both. I guess we are both here for the same thing." Sandra took a step towards the counter to let the lady know she was here for her appointment as a new employee. They followed close behind.

- "Hello, I am here to bring the new employee documents." The lady behind the desk looked from her to the couple.

-" We are here for the same reason." Said Bailey as the lady looked at her before looking back at a paper on her desk.

-" I'll go ahead and take your names and let you know when she is ready for you."

-"My name is Sandra Monteverde." Sandra took a brief look at her and then glanced at the paper. The lady told her to take a seat and proceeded to take the couple's names and once she had written their names down proceeded to tell them to sit down as well.

- " She looks nice!" Bailey said quietly to Ryan. Ryan's smile was full of mirth and walked beside her as they went to sit down. The lady called them both in as they sat down. Bailey and Ryan stood up swiftly while saying heir good byes to Sandra.

Sandra sat there reading an ebook for a while waiting for the lady to call her name. She waited around twenty minutes before she heard it and went inside a door on the right side of the lady with gray hair and tight curls. As she went in, Ryan and Bailey were walking out of a back door. Another lady, younger and not as stern as the other, waved her in to her office. She walked in and sat down across from the lady with the smile in her eyes.

- Hello my name is Trisha. Welcome to Cherokee County Schools. I am going to need your driver's license or any type of identification, your social security card, your diploma, and your teaching certificate." She did not realize how important all those documents were to Sandra as she named them one by one.

Sandra was sure she saw countless of those documents on a daily basis and had no real idea what they meant to her and many others like her who had to wait for years to obtain and use them. Those legal documents that allowed her to work legally also allowed her to do something that she had always wanted to do and had to postpone until she did receive them. She handed her a folder with the teaching certificate and the diploma and then dove into her purse in search of her billfold with her driver's license and the social security card.

Trisha took the documents and scanned them on to her computer and gave them back. She then took a picture of her and created a school badge and handed it to her when it was ready. She spoke about Central Middle School as she did so and asked her what she was going to teach. Sandra explained what she would teach. Trisha also asked her for a voided check to know what bank to deposit her earnings.

It was a brief encounter but seemed longer than it had. She was out of the door before she knew it and the next day had to to be at the new employee meeting.

Sandra woke up excited as she thought of the new things to come. A part of her still wanted to hold on to that childish dream of writing for a well known newspaper or magazine, but knowing that she was starting a new beginning, a sudden and unexpected beginning, made her happy beyond her own imagination and sensibilities. It should not have surprised her nor her father. He had always observed that she adapted well to her surroundings and environment.

When he heard that she was to take a position teaching, he did not doubt that she could do it. He was not as surprised as his wife and his daughters. Unlike them, he had always paid close attention to the things that made her and the people around him unique. He knew that his oldest had a heart of gold when she was not arguing or fighting with her siblings. He knew that his third child was the most patient one of all his daughters, and that his youngest was full of the same energy he had and had the talent to put everyone around her at ease and make them laugh.

That morning, as Sandra readied herself for the meeting, both her mother and father congratulated her for her new career. They ate breakfast together and soon she was off. Laura was a junior in school. She congratulated her and left the house a few minutes before Sandra did. Sandra left the house in what she believed was a good time.

The new employee meeting was held in a colosseum miles away from the school. She arrived at the parking lot five minutes before the meeting began without realizing the error of her ways. She immediately thought of her father's words- "Always arrive fifteen minutes before"- and chastised herself for not taking heed to his words. The parking lot was filled with cars and she had to walk what felt a mile from her parking space to the colosseum and another what felt like half a mile to get to the meeting room.

Papers, lots of them! That's what Sandra received on that new employee meeting and she did not know what to do with all of them or where to keep them. There were papers that she needed to fill out, sign and turn in. Some of them she had to keep because they had information on the things she would be accessing and completing throughout the year.

There was something in the way that the meeting had gone that concerned her. It could have been that they had asked her to rate herself, but that the rating she gave herself could had to be less than average or average as she was a beginning teacher. It made sense in a way but in a way it didn't seem right.

She understood the need to demonstrate progression and that as a first year teacher there would be skills in her teaching that she would need to work on. Several of them in fact, but her time with the youth in church had taught her teaching skills which she had developed over time and while substituting she noticed that some of the skills came naturally and that she felt was just above average.

If they were telling her how to rate herself, was she rating herself at all? She did not dwell on the thought too much for fear that she would not like the conclusion she would come to and instead paid attention as the instructor went on about the categories and classifications which she had to rate herself in and the reflections she had to complete as well as the practice plans she had to create. This was to be done on a yearly basis.

She took the papers they had given her and put them back in the folder which they had handed her. There were other papers as well. There were some papers about the health and life insurance policies available. Others were about the types of investments to enroll in and the many benefits Sandra's earnings would get her. The most important paper she cared for was the one explaining personal and sick days. She was hoping to see Bailey and Ryan there, but she had not and so went home afterwards.