So....today was my first official day of work. It was interesting. This week just the new teachers are coming in for 3 days of orientation. A group of about 7 of us missed the shuttle from the Metro to the school site we were meeting at because of miscommunication and ended up having to walk there. Thankfully, one young lady in our group had thought to write the walking directions down from the Metro to the school (go figure).

I ran into the father of one of the students from my old school and after he questioned me about when I applied to teach here and when I left and teased me about our lateness not making a good impression on the superintendent I found out he might be able to fix the transportation/shuttle blunder that occurred and proceeded to inform him of why we were late.

The keynote speaker was really good. He challenged us as shining stars (the theme) to unwrap the gifts (students) we have to reveal the shining stars there within. We'll find though that some gifts have bows while others have knots that we have to take time to unravel with care because once we do the gift inside can be revealed. Yeah, it sounded much better coming from him.

I found out that all teachers don't report to school until Tuesday. YAY- one more day off! I made some new acquaintances with some lovely young ladies, one of which I met during the morning-Metro-shuttle-shebang and another who sat in front of us during the general morning talk. At lunch I ran into a young lady I'd come across at headquarters a month ago and invited her to join us for lunch.

My last session was an introduction to the Office of Bilingual Education. I'm so thankful for all of the support and resources that are available to us as English language teachers. I had a conversation this morning with someone who was discussing the uniqueness of our ESL program due to the international nature and makeup of the English language learners we serve and am looking forward to what God is going to teach me spiritually and personally as well as professionally. I know it's going to be challenging because I will constantly be reminded that as a teacher my job ends when my students have learned and I'll be working with students who have barriers to their learning so it's my responsibility to find ways to promote their learning and find the key that unlocks their academic success (that sounds like an advertisement doesn't it?).

On my way back on the shuttle, Metro blunder rectified,I ended up speaking with a lady who works in the Administrative branch of the system and I forgot what we were talking about and somehow mentioned that God is sovereign and will have her way and she got excited and started talking about how God truly will do what He intends to do and how He worked in her life over the past few years to bring her where she never expected or intended.

All in all, today has been a good day. I'm reminded that I'm going into a battlefield (students behavior, barriers to learning, challenges of a new position, social interaction with coworkers)and that I need to discipline myself to spend the time that is necessary with God, fueling up on Him and His word so that I will have what is needed to pour myself out into what He has brought me thus far to do.