Back to work.

My first day of work was interesting. The first half of the day I had a meeting with other new SLP-A’s and my supervisor. The meeting went well. Everyone seems very nice and eager to get to work. After the meeting, I headed to my school to set up my office and meet the rest of the staff.

After I arrive at Whittier I was introduced to everyone and given a welcome bag. The bag was cute. It was filled with treats like; water, candy, paperclips and marbles (incase I lost mine over the summer). Everyone was polite and outgoing but… I have one concern. There is only one male teacher in the building. You may wonder why I care. Well, in my experience if you put too many women in one building there is bound to be trouble. I don't have anything against woman. (Hey, I am one!) In many ways I believe we are superior. But, I think you will all agree that balance is the key to success. Let’s hope that this school proves me wrong.

To help me get familiar with the school my supervisor walked me around the building. Our first stop was our “old” office. (A few days before school started speech-language was moved to allow room for another grant funded program.) The “old” office is wonderful. It’s large, private and easy to access. The new office, however, does not come close to the old one. It is a section/corner of a STORAGE CLOSET. The closet is in between the Gym, a TA room and another storage close. There are two ways to get into my office, AKA my space. One is THROUGH the GYM!! And the other is through the hall, that leads to the PLAYGROUND! (It feels more like a hallway than a room.) Let me tell you, my little closet is an ideal therapy environment!! And extremely confidential!!

The gym is full of children, ALL DAY. In the mornings, there is breakfast, a before school daycare and gym classes. In the afternoons, there is lunch and of course…more gym classes. Throughout the day my space is filled with relaxing sounds; screaming, balls bouncing, children running, doors slamming, children’s music and staff walking in and out to get to the Teacher Aide room/storage area. My door is a cubicle divider (that rolls), so the sound is almost completely blocked. I can’t wait to have students in my space!! The PreK and K kiddos will be able to concentrate so well!! It is really an ideal room for a speech language service provider!! (And we wonder why schools have shortages of SLP’s?!)

Don’t worry, the principal and other School District personnel are aware of our concerns regarding my space and hopefully I will be moving to a more practical environment soon. My options, as of now, are the library CLOSET and a section of another room. Boy, they both sound fun!! Until then (who knows when that will be), I will be enjoying the tranqil sounds from the gym and the virtually nonexistent staff traffic.

Besides my space work is really good. The kids that I have met so far are GREAT, especially the preschool kiddos. It feels good to be working with little ones again. I loved high school so much that I forgot how much fun the little ones are.