Dressing and Educating: Days 1-5

Day 1: August 15, 2016

It’s back to school day for teachers in my district. It was a full day of meetings. I work in a freshman building for my district and so after all the meetings were over we held Freshman Orientation. Knowing that my first day back was going to be a twelve hour work day I knew I needed something comfortable to wear to make it through.

My top is from The Limited. It was on sale last weekend for $19. (I may end up buying more in different colors because it was so comfortable.) I also decided to wear a pair of LulaRoe leggings. My school colors are navy and gold so my whole ensemble had a Go Vikings! feel about it.

Finally, I finished my outfit with my red Toms from StitchFix. I would wear Toms every day if I could. They are the most comfortable shoe around.

It was a busy day of meetings, announcements, and orientation. But even though I’m exhausted I’m looking forward to a fantastic new school year.

Day 2: August 16, 2016

This was a big day for my family because my daughter started pre-school.

We woke up early and took her to breakfast before Teacher Work Day #2. Dropping her off was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do as a parent. I’m not sure why I was nervous and why I allowed it to affect me so much because she was excited and I knew she would love every minute. But it was still a hard day.

As I prepared my attire for the day I thought about ways to minimize my time getting ready so we could manage the time for family breakfast. I also knew I had quite a bit of setting up and moving to do in my classroom so I chose something what would be conducive to those tasks.

I wore a Randy shirt from LulaRoe. This shirt stood out to me at my Pop-Up Boutique because it is in my school colors. So just like Day 1, I was dressed in school spirit for Day 2 of the school year. I finished the look with a pair of jeggings and charcoal colored Toms.

Day 3: August 17, 2016

This was my first day with students. I decided to dress comfortably for the first day as I know it can often be a rough one on my body. On the first day of school a teacher has a lot to do in regards to setting expectations for the year. I always spend the entire day on my feet and I walk far more than usual. Instead of wearing a dress as I usually do on the first day, I decided on a pair of light-weight, high-waisted pants and a thin cotton t-shirt from Primark in England. My classroom temperature varies throughout the day so before I left the house I grabbed my new Lindsay Kimono from LulaRoe. For the comfort of my feet I decided to skip heels and go with my black sparkly Toms with a lace overlay.

I’m glad I planned for a day of active walking and moving when choosing my outfit because I spent the entire day on my feet. From leading the class in Get-To-Know-You activities to ushering lost freshman around the building I met my daily 10,000 step goal as tracked by my Fitbit.

My brain is a little exhausted from learning 120 new names and faces, but it was a great day. I enjoyed getting to share about myself and my passions with my new students. Also, my homeroom had a blast doing Brain Teasers and playing games. As I think about the 177 days to come I get excited about connecting with each of those new students. One thing I love to watch every year is how freshmen change throughout the year. They all enter my class on the first day with wide eyes and fear written across their foreheads, but as time passes they begin to open up and I get to appreciate their uniqueness.

My hope is to maintain my level of excitement that I am portraying in today’s photo!

Day 4: August 18, 2016

I had an interesting start to Day 4 as my daughter was sick. I spent the night checking her rising temperature and force feeding her fluids. I woke up for the day exhausted from barely sleeping the night before, but refused to let the fact that I was running on fumes ruin the second day of school.

This day brought me to a couple of realizations. First of all, I am so thankful for my circumstances. Every year I have my students tell me a few things about themselves. Some of them opened up in huge ways about tragedies and victories in their lives. I have students who have faced the loss of a parent, homelessness, and debilitating illnesses. For them to open up to me about these things in the beginning of the year is huge for the grade level I teach.

Second of all, I realized that I work with great people. We all traded stories we learned today to help one another build connections with students. Each person on my team is passionate about their students and their well being and it was clear to me today that we all understand that we have to reach each students individually.

Above I am wearing a top from my latest Stitch Fix, leggings from Old Navy, Sperrys, and a kimono from Macy’s.

Day 5: August 19, 2016

The first week finally came to an end. Not that I had a bad week, but I was exhausted.

On Friday, I paired my students up to work on activities to witness how well they worked in small group environments. My English students read picture books and shared them with classmates. My History students took a tour of their textbook and completed a “Pop Quiz” over world geography. Overall, it was a fun day getting to watch the students interact with one another. Some of the nervous energy is starting to wear off and the students are beginning to let some of their true colors show if even just a little bit. I enjoyed the day, but I was depleted of all energy and in need of a weekend by the end of the last class period.

Usually I wear jeans and dress more casually on Fridays, but since it was the first week of school I decided to skip the jeans today. Instead, I wore a pair of cropped pants from The Limited and an oversized sweater from Kohls (a gift from a few years ago.) For shoes, I wore Toms for the fourth time in five days. Oops. Clearly, I have an obsession with Toms and own more pairs than most people would consider to be “normal.”

Here’s a recap of Days 1-5: