Mr. H and Ms. W go to school

Today Robert and I visited the high school he'll be interning at this semester--the only problem is that it's in a different time zone and takes about an hour travel time.  Once we got there, however, I think we both realized that this will be a good fit and worth the trouble.  When we arrived, we walked up to the front door and met a man out front with a shovel in his hand.  Because it's a Saturday afternoon, we weren't sure we'd be permitted to peek inside (to find Robert's classroom, for instance).  The man out front was busy finishing up the landscaping of the front lawn--trimming hedges, digging out dead roots, removing debris from the pathway.  Robert walked up to him, offered his hand, and said, "Hi, I'm Robert H, and I'll be starting an internship here on Monday."  The man offered a smile and said, "Hi, I'm Mr. B.  I'm the principal."  I wasn't expecting that!  Hehehe...immediately I was impressed by this school and its administration.  Mr. B asked Robert who he was interning with this semester, and not only did the principal know his employee but he said, "Oh yeah.  Her classroom is room #1--, which is all the way down the hallway to the right.  The doors on this side of the building are unlocked, if you'd like to go see it."  He knew precisely which room this individual teacher was in--for me, a girl who graduated with over 600 classmates in high school, a principal knowing a teacher's classroom is foreign to me.  Again, I was impressed.  We thanked him, went inside (he returned to his yard work), and poked around the school.

We found the classroom, Media Center, computer lab, and cafeteria.  It was actually quite a great deal of fun.  Something that caught both our attention was that some of the seniors were painting their parking spaces--they were given permission to come out on Saturday and paint something in their entire parking space.  We saw an Irish flag, an emblem of school spirit (they're the eagles, colors red and white), and lots of "Go Class of '09" banners.  They were so cute!  Robert and I are thinking about going to some football games and theatre performances this semester.  I honestly can't wait until he's got his real teaching gig so we can do that kind of thing all the time. :)

After the high school, we came back home and did a little shopping.  I was going to put this all together as a sort of surprise, but it worked out better that we did the shopping together and before school started.  I got him a satchel, an accordion file system, and a lunch box.  He'll be all set for school with these great things. :)

Well, now that we've got him set for school, now I've got to set myself up for school--time to decide which specific readings my students are going to do this semester.  Here goes nothing! ;)