But What do I do on the first day of school?

Since accepting the position as the Science and Technology Integrator for our district, I have had one question that I have asked repeatedly "What do I do on the first day of school?" Having been in the classroom for the last 5 years, the first day of school is often filled with getting to know you activities, team building, talks of summer break, and establishing of routines. It is sometimes filled with hallway confusion as sixth graders first learn to navigate a schedule with different teachers for each subject, and panic as students try their combination for the 5th time only to find that the locker is still locked. After 5 years in the classroom, I knew how to manage a first day of school like that listed above, what I didn't know how to manage was a first day of school where I didn't have students to be responsible for, or a schedule to fill my day. This led me to the repeated question of "What do I do on the first day?"

Then, yesterday, it came to me, that I really needed to decide for myself what I was going to make of this first day. I could sit in my office and say I had planning work to do, and read up on the new technology innovations I could help people integrate. I could stand in the hallway and help kids read their schedules and unlock the lockers that are just too hard to unlock on the first day. I could do whatever I wanted. I was free to make the day whatever I wanted it to be. 

I decided that in an effort to be visible, around, and not in my office all year, I needed to start on the first day by being just those things. I decided to spend my first day of school documenting everyone else's first day of school. I made it my priority to visit every classroom at least once during the day and photograph the looks of the kids as they found their cubbies for the first time, or came to 4K for the first time, or came back for their final year at Merton school. I documented the teachers leading their spaghetti tower building contests, burning balloons to show chemical reactions, and playing name memory games to get to know there students. I was introduced to class after class of students as "This is Mrs. Iwanski. You will see her a lot because she is going to help make Science awesome for you!" I had contact with more individual students and teachers then if I would have been in my own classroom. I branched out of my zone of comfort and into the zone of my new job and in doing so experienced the first day of school in a whole new way. 

Here is the quick list of some things I would have missed if I had my typical 6th grade first day of school:

• A kindergartner offering that a class rule should be "Don't pee your pants"
• Meeting our 7th and 8th graders with "Happy New Year" hats and noise makers
• 5th graders learning to live out of cubbies instead of desks
• Hearing a group of students react when a teacher introduced me as a Tech JEDI
• Getting to help problem solve and make a solution to a video problem so the primary building can have Merton Way day tomorrow
• Laying on the floor of the hallway coloring with students from last year creating our mural of hands for the hallway
• Seeing in person how hard all of the teachers at Merton work to make it the best place for kids to learn

There were moments today when I missed having my own classroom, but then I remembered that if I was in my classroom then I would have missed all of the other moments I was having in my day, and all of the moments I was able to capture. All in all it was a great first day on a new adventure. All I am left wondering is "So, what do I do on the second day of school?"