New Teachers Prep for Their First Test

Brown construction paper that would become a tree trunk blanketed the floor. Across the room, handcrafted 5-foot-tall plant stems were missing their flowers.

Miniature xylophones were half-assembled, and the question of how to arrange musical notes to look like flowers remained unanswered.

After spending more than 20 hours coloring signs, labeling instruments, laminating bulletin board pieces and cutting out letters and musical notes, first-year music teacher Ashley Humble was far from turning the classroom into a learning environment.

"I need some inspiration here," Humble said while staring at a blank wall at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Woodbridge, 12 days before school started. "I'm a music teacher, so I never got training in the bulletin board department. I'm new to all this and just freehanding it."

The 22-year-old was satisfied with one part of the room: the floor, which was covered with a somewhat beaten-up wine-colored rug.

"I'm so happy, because I've been going around saying I wanted a rug," she said. "My mentor found it for me this morning. It could use a vacuum, but that's okay. I really wanted a rug."

Humble is one of 524 new teachers joining the Prince William County school system, which has 5,508 teachers, counselors and librarians. For them, the school year began long before the first bus full of students arrives Tuesday.

"I don't know if people know what we do before school begins," Humble said. "I hope they know we put in a lot of work, because we want to be good teachers to their kids."

Aug. 19 marked the official first day of school for Prince William's newest educators. The group -- 419 are new to teaching, and 192 came from out of state -- funneled into Forest Park High School at 7:30 that morning for an orientation session.

The cafeteria was buzzing as seasoned employees introduced themselves and new teachers shared tips on where to find construction paper that won't fade in the sun and which kind of tape works best to hold bulletin board displays in place.

Humble, who moved to the county not knowing a soul, expressed anxiety as she waited for the program to start.

"I'm worried everyone will be married . . . and if there will be other young people working with me," Humble said. "This morning I was even stressing about what to wear to orientation."