It's Only Been a Week . . .

But, it's been a long week! The level of overwhelmedness (I know, not even a word, but it fits) I'm experiencing right now is even more than I experienced when I returned to teaching when Andy was 8 weeks old.
The trouble is that I was assigned to a new grade level, including a new classroom, this year. So, I'm in fourth grade now and wouldn't you know that in all the years that I've been teaching, including student teaching and all of my field work, I've never actually been in a fourth grade classroom. I guess on it's own this would be tolerable.
However, I also have a new position this year as a mentor teacher for fourth and fifth grade. This past summer I attended two different three day conferences and a couple of meetings, plus my school year started early. On it's own this new position would be pretty tolerable too.
Then there is the matter of having a new team to learn to work with. Part of the problem here is that the other two team members are incapable of working together. They pretty much admit it, too. So now I am the Switzerland of fourth grade. I suppose that on it's own this would be pretty tolerable as well.
What's the trouble then? Well, it has all come together like the Perfect Storm. I'm beyond busy and truly didn't know it was possible to be this far behind after only the first week of school. A lot of what I need to do involves just having time to sit down and process things. Hasn't happened, despite my best efforts.
We'll see how things go this week. I will be out of my classroom on Monday and Friday due to my new mentoring position so I've spent the weekend working on my sub folder and sub plans. Good times. Then, I'll have a sub the following Monday and Tuesday because I'm heading out of town on Saturday to handle a family situation.
Don't worry, there are a couple of bright spots. For one, I have an excellent class. I was fortunate to loop up with about 18 of my students from last year. Also, Brian has really stepped up and has been doing the majority of the cooking and laundry.
So, um, meet me back here on Friday when I've got a cold drink in my hand and we'll see how things went!