A home away from home

I was especially anxious about my first day (Aug 4, 2008) at Facing History-Chicago. This was due in part to being "the new girl" and also due in part to the dread of summer vacation actually being over. Jet-lagged from a 2-hour time difference (I'd just returned from British Columbia the weekend before starting work), I prepared myself for my move to the Chicago office.

There's something interesting about taking 13 years of teaching materials from a personal storage space and prioritizing which of those items gets to have a new home or "workspace" (the UN-cubicle)! As an educator, in addition to preparing classroom materials and lesson plans, my annual ritual included cleansing, clearing and designing my space. Consider it my own personal southside feng-shui aromatherapy session. Being a visual/intraspective/interpersonal learner, I would fill my class with posters, plants, fish, aromatics and other items to inspire and motivate anyone that entered the space. It was (is) my firm belief that if my classroom felt warm and inviting (like home) then my students and I would feel comfortable enough to get to know each other, learn from each other and grow with each other. Visitors and my co-teachers (those that shared the room) would have the sense that this was a productive, safe and welcoming environment to work in. It is this same philosophy that made the task of designing my "workspace" a pleasure and a challenge. How could I make it feel like a home away from home?

The second aspect of starting a new year or transitioning into a new environment is the anxiety associated with "fitting in" or worrying about the group dynamics within the workplace. I can say for certainty that my 7 years with FH as a teacher & TLT member has made me a lot less anxious than I probably would have been had I took a job somewhere else. All of those anxieties, however, were quickly washed away the moment I arrived in the office. I was warmly greeted (with a hug & smile as always) by Dunreith. Then, I saw a cute little "Welcome" sign outside my cubi...ahem, excuse me..."workspace". Naomi soon stopped in with flowers. Denise, Chuck, Ashlynn, Roxanne, Judd and Eleanor were on hand to give warm wishes and more warm smiles. Bonnie and Judy's encouraging words were a blessing. Short of the appreciation I've gotten from the YWLCS community in the last few months of my tenure there, I can't recall ever feeling so appreciated in a professional environment!

I think I'm gonna love it here. I'm still a little anxious about balancing out all the tasks, but I've already got ideas of things I would like to try once I do find that balance and once time allows for it.