Part 1: Chapter 5: The Boss Said To Plan Trips and Get It Done in 48 Hours!

Then January came and its now 2009. (Annie is the principal. Annie and Carla are also friends which does make for a very interesting and weird situation later on. Wait until Part 2 to find out how Annie, Carla and I have weird situation going).

[SIC]Jan 8 2009

just and update...as a was getting ready to leave  Annie asked to speak to me....she just want to tell me that u did a very nice job on your observation lesson..then she asked me to be sure you have 5 trips planned..one in feb...one in march, april and 2 in may...so....she wantes me to work with Wendy  on tuesday when i will be there.....to book the trips for you as well as the transportation.., so..i did make a list of the ones Jane is taking..you can do those or lokk for others..i think hers were fine.. 2 were to xxxx the performing arts center...one to town hall, one to circle in the square..those were for all nice kids shows...the last one was for the aquarium.... so<>>> be sure to let me know tuesday..which trips you want Wendy i to confirm for your class.....AS i said Annie is very happy with you...and if she wants trips...then just do trips..the parents want that kind of stuff for the kids....SO please think about it over the weekend and make your decisions...thanks [SIC]

As any new teacher will have to go through, there are always bumps along the road as the end of the year gets closer. As a first year teacher who was learning the ropes and creating a curriculum all by myself, planning trips was not a priority on my list up until  the boss  Annie wanted trips. So I have to do trips. Fortunately, I had Carla mentoring me  who did push and help alleviate a nice amount of the planning and took the burden off  me so I can focus on my other concerns. For example, my main concern was to make sure  I had lessons  planned and prepared for each day of the week SINCE I HAD NO CURRICULUM AND WAS WORKING FROM CARTE-BLANCHE.  Since I already mentioned that my co-worker Jane was not hospitable, this was a lost cause having her work with me to plan trips. If anything, Jane used to come into my classroom to interrupt while I was instructing and blurt out "Oh, I took the class on a walking trip to the mailbox to place our money order for the farm trip.". My thoughts to this..gee, couldn't you have shared the information to the farm trip with me, who is also a new teacher to the school instead of bragging and being annoying about it?  Yes, this is true and I can not make this stuff. She actually came into my room multiple times to interrupt me while I was with the class.
 

I remember the weekend very clearly because I was really overwhelmed and anxious about getting those trips done. I was given the entire weekend to plan the trips and they had to be booked by Tuesday.  Annie wanted 5 trips, I actually gave her more. I found 10 trips (bus and walking) that integrated very well with my curriculum themes for the year.  After we completed the booking of the trips,  I was faced with 3 more concerns of my own that were immediately addressed to Carla. The 3 concerns that I wanted to start planning for was Chinese New Year (since I worked close to China Town), Math Month and the 100 day of school.