The Misadventures of the Perpetually Lost

When I left the house this morning it was early enough for me to make it to school in plenty of time. NOT! Driving down Austin Hwy I got the clever idea of going past my old place work place and take a shortcut. I knew the street I needed to turn on ran straight into the road I was on. This would surely save me time. Hah! Let's just say that I learned a lesson on navigating murky waters. Don't get creative, go with what you know.

I missed the corner I needed, and when I did turn off I ended up in the wrong neighborhood. This was way beyond the place I intended to be. So I tried to backtrack. That didn't work either. The streets were unfamiliar and I ended up at Fort Sam. There the nice guy at the gate told me to go back down a certain road and I'd need to turn onto Austin Hwy. Then I could surely find my way. That didn't go as it should have either.

By this time I was just at the "late to work" point so I called the school. They were getting ready to do morning announcements and it would take about 5 minutes. So I hung up and persevered. I got further lost and called again. Someone was finally free to help me. The only problem was that I was now in a small encircled township on the outskirts of San Antonio, Converse. Fortunately, the nice lady on the phone was familiar with that area so she was able to talk me back to Hwy 35 and from there to the school. This took some time but, after all my navigation errors, I wasn't about to let her off the phone. Who knew what would happen. When I finally got to the school it was past 8:30 and I was over an hour late.

Fortunately, the people at the school took it in good stride. It turns out the lady on the phone giving me directions was one of the teachers I'd worked with slightly in my earlier experiences at that school. She was very good hearted about it. After I got into my classroom I dutifully called my supervisor and left a detailed message telling her what had happened and that I would have my cell on me in courtesy mode if she wanted to talk to me about it. She called while I was in the cafeteria, was very nice about it, and told me I had done exactly the right things in calling the school and her so I was ok. I suspect that next year she will tell her student teachers to give the route a test run before the first day of school.

The rest of the day went fairly well I think. We had about 14 kids. Some hadn't shown up and others, not on our list, did. I learned several names pretty quickly. Those were the kids not paying attention and talking all the time. When we noticed how antsy the kids were in the midst of math she tried to think of a movement we could do while counting by twos. I offered a suggestion and she let me teach it. The kids seemed to like it and it got them up and out of their chairs for a few minutes. Lunch was good, Recess was better. We toured the school so now I have an idea where most things are. The only downside, besides getting there late was that my CT told me she hadn't wanted a student teacher and had been talked into it by the Assistant Principal. I think that is something I want my supervisor to be aware of. So, even though I got to see my two old teacher friends that work there and am looking forward to the semester, I'm a bit concerned about how things will go. Asking for prayers here folks. I really need to pass this one because you don't usually get a second shot.

Peace and Hope!