Charlie and I followed the headmistress down the corridor, taking in the atmosphere.
"We don't have time to do a full tour this morning so I'll just show you the areas you'll need to know for today and I can give you the rest of the tour after school."
"Oh, um, I have to pick up my son after school..." Charlie spoke up quickly and the headmistress nodded.
"That's fine. Maybe you could come in early tomorrow? Or you could just learn as you go?"
"I can come in early. I'm not the best at finding my own way around." Charlie laughed and I smiled at him. I could already tell that we were going to be good friends.
"I'm happy to come in early too. That way you don't have to do the tour twice." I offered.
"That sounds lovely. Now, here's the main Arts building, where your classes will be held, Charlie." I looked up at the large building, seeing the ivy slowly crawling up the three-storey walls and framing the huge windows that glittered in the sun. It gave the place a very artistic feel and I couldn't wait to use the space to help students follow their creative ideas.
"So, all the Arts are in here?" Charlie asked and the headmistress nodded.
"Everything from painting and drawing to photography, media, music and everything in between. We wanted to create a space uniquely for the Arts so that students can channel their creative energies."
"That's such a great idea. I mean, most schools just use an empty classroom for the Arts classes." I said.
"If you haven't noticed, we try to ensure that our students get the best opportunities in everything." The headmistress laughed a little, pushing open the front door. Charlie and I followed her in, marvelling at the beautiful space that had been created. Students' artwork was hung on the walls and huge windows provided a lot of natural lighting. Soft-looking sofas were scattered around and several students were milling around, chatting quietly as they waited for classes to start.
"That's what I've always tried to do, with all my classes. I see my job as a way to shape the future, not just babysit the kids." I said and she nodded.
"And that's why we hired you both. We want to shape these kids for the future." We came to a stop in front of a door that had no signs or anything on it, unlike the other doors we'd passed in the building. "This is the staffroom for the teachers in the Arts and sports. I'm guessing you'll probably spend most of your time here, you know, during breaks and the like. There's a main staffroom behind the admin area where we keep memos and things like that and you're welcome to have lunch in there too, if you'd like."
"Oh, it's very spacious." Charlie had awe in his voice when the door swung open to reveal a brightly lit space. A little modern kitchenette was along one wall while a set of lockers stood opposite. Several soft-looking sofas were scattered by the big bay window and a medium sized table was in the centre of the room. A few people were in the room, who I assumed were our fellow teachers.
"Good morning everyone. I'd like to introduce to you Nick Nelson and Charlie Hope. They're starting here today. I'm sure you'll all make them feel welcome." The other people looked up with some interest as the headmistress introduced us. There was a general mumble of 'welcome' but other than that, they just turned back to what they'd been doing.
"Good luck today, guys." One woman said, hurrying past us and I frowned.
"Huh?"
"Don't worry too much. She's very uptight. The smallest thing goes wrong and it's the end of the world for her." The headmistress muttered and I nodded. There were all types of teachers. "Okay, well. I'm sure you'll do just fine today. I'll check in at lunch to see how you're going. Um, Charlie, private music classes don't start until half past nine so you've got a bit of time to orientate yourself. Unfortunately, though, Nick your first P.E class starts in fifteen minutes."
"Oh. Okay. Let me just put my bag away and I'll head over now. Uh, the kids' change rooms are in the building across the way, right?" I checked, pointing back towards the entryway.
"Yes. Just down there and to your right. The students are very eager to meet you so I hope you enjoy it."
"Thank you." I smiled and headed over to the lockers, sensing Charlie following behind me. A few weeks back, I'd been given an orientation so I knew vaguely about the workings of the school and I remembered that every staffroom had lockers for the teachers to keep their personal things since the students often came into the rooms to talk to the staff.
"Nothing like being thrown in the deep end, huh?" Charlie said quietly and I grinned at him.
"Don't I know it?" I stashed my things, grabbing my notebook and iPad and then heading out of the room. The headmistress was still standing at the door and I paused for a moment. "Thanks for this, Mary."
"You're welcome, Nick. Enjoy your day." With a smile, she turned and headed out of the building, leaving me to find my way to the gymnasium and student change rooms. There were a few classrooms there too, for some more theory-based classes. I guessed the kids would likely be already waiting for me since the bell had rung a while ago by the time I got there.
As I'd guessed, there was a group of about twenty students outside, chatting quietly together. They looked up when I approached and I was suddenly hit with nerves I hadn't felt since my first year of teaching.
"Uh, hi. I'm Mr Nelson, your, uh, your new teacher. What's say we head inside and we can get started?" The students gathered up their bags which had been dropped onto the ground and lined up along the wall, something I hadn't seen since I was in uni and just shadowing a primary school teacher. I decided it must just have been something the school insisted on and let it go, pushing open the door to the classroom.
Quickly locating the teacher's desk I went over and put my things down, turning to address the students who were hovering just inside the door.
"You can sit down..." I said, only a little confused. One of the students finally spoke up then.
"Um, our old teacher used to tell us where to sit each lesson. We weren't sure if you'd do the same." I bit my lip. Clearly there were some things I'd have to work through.
"How about this? Today, you can sit where you'd like and I'll see if it works. If we get too much trouble, I'll look at assigned seating, okay?" The students cheered up a little then and eagerly filled the room, sitting at the various tables and laying out their things.
I let them go for a bit, just looking around the room and getting myself familiar with it. When they were all settled, I leaned back against my desk and smiled at them.
"Okay. I understand this is a bit of a change for you guys. It is for me too. It's unusual for a teacher change like this in the middle of the term but if you work with me, I think it'll work out. Sound good?" The students nodded and I continued. "Well, I think that today, we won't do much in the way of actual sports. I'm going to treat today's lesson as more of a 'get-to-know-you' day. We're going to start off with a basic exercise. Everyone in the room is going to say their name and one interesting thing about them that maybe nobody else knows. I'll go first. As I said, I'm Mr Nelson, and I used to teach over at Lakeside until about a week ago."
For the next few minutes, I walked around the room, listening as each of the students introduced themselves to me. I smiled when they would suddenly burst into laughter, obviously having inside knowledge of the things they were telling me. This was part of my job that I loved; having real relationships with the students I taught. By the time we got through every student, we'd used up a good fifteen minutes of class time, leaving us with about half an hour to go.
"Alright. Now, I'm not making any promises to know all your names by our next class but I'll do my best. Remember, there's twenty of you and only one of me." They laughed a little and I could tell that these students were going to be easy to get along with. Hopefully they were setting a reasonable example of what was to come for the rest of the day.
