The Soft Opening

The first day of school kind of feels like the grand opening of a restaurant or other business. Everyone is there. Everyone is on their best behavior. You've got crowds and new things and all the focus is on the beginning. 

The past couple years, I've felt like a brand new employee (with no prior training) on the first day of school. I've moaned about falling into "vacant" classes, that is, a class with no teacher assigned. And while I know that's mostly how one works on the first day of school, I wasn't really looking forward to having to do that yet again.

And then a gig at the adult transition center popped up for the first two days of school. For Mr. G. Who I know didn't retire. 

While I had never subbed for Mr. G before, I spent 117 days at the adult transition center last school year. I've met the students. While I might not know Mr. G's exact schedule, I do have a rough idea of what he usually does. 

So, instead of jumping right into the school year, I'm kind of easing into it, like having a soft opening before the official grand opening. 

Things were a bit of a mess, as the room hadn't been prepped and Mr. G's usual aides weren't there. (One was out and the other got moved to a different class.) But I had Pizza, Leanna, and Brittany. And I'd been around the other three students before. (We were supposed to have incoming new students, but they didn't show up.) 

Not a bad way to start the new school year. And this group was way easier than Ms. L's group. (Although I did get to see many of them as well. I just saw them before and after school.)