Absent-Minded Professor

In this school, students stay in one room and the teacher moves. This is a big change for me. I know that in many schools around the world, teachers are forced to share classrooms. Fortunately for me, up until now, that has not been the case.

But for the last two days, I have been roaming the halls like your sterotypical absent-minded professor.  "Doc" Brown from Back to the Future, Professor Farnsworth from Futurama, Mr. Marshall from geometry class... That's now me. I race through the halls, trailing whirlwinds of paper. I leave books in classrooms. I forget my waterbottle. I let the time get away from me.

It is not good.

I need an organizational system. I need a bookbag. (I bought a pencil case today -- and still left my new eraser in the classroom.) I know I managed to get through high school and college without daily angst, but somehow this is worse. I'm out of practice, for one thing. For another, there are no bells, so there is no external clue to time. Finally, even if there were bells, most classes run back-to-back, so I don't have a set 4-6 minutes to gather my belongings and calmly move to the next room. And, of course, I am beset by throngs of interested students at every turn (OK, maybe it's not quite that dramatic, but I still do have students asking me questions after class). 

I asked my students to reflect on what they needed to do better if they are to have a successful year, and here is my reflection: I need to get organized, and I need to do it now. I need to practice serentity at the start and end of each lesson so I do not forget important things. I need a watch that I can set to the school's time, because my phone is 2-3 minutes slower than the school's time (although the school has clocks, they are not yet in the classrooms). 

Wish me luck! Because this whole chicken-with-its-head-chopped-off thing is getting OLD.