Trying not to be so slack!

Well here I am trying to lift my average blog from once a month to something a bit more regular. I am actually sitting in my Year 11 English class and the students are doing an essay on Lord of the Flies so I have some time up my sleeve. Have been thinking about the Early Career Teachers conference on Friday - trying to work out what I was going to talk about in my role as a panel member, and it got me in a reflective mood (but sorry Scott, I still haven't finished writing out my notes).
School at the moment is all of these things: interesting, exhausting, difficult and new. My year 12's have their first SAC tonight after school and I think that there is a strong possibility that I am more nervous than them. The shoes of the history teacher who I took over from this year are big shoes to fill, and I am concerned that our marks will not be good enough. Last year there were several perfect study scores in History, but I think that this year the result might not be so good. But then we all know what I am like with trying to be perfect and worrying when I think my efforts fall short. I know that in the end all I can do is teach them what they need to know and point them in the right direction and that it is up to them to make the most of the year.
I am also finding it difficult to find a balanced way to work with the other history teacher. It is important that we are in close contact about what we are teaching and the sources we are using, but we are very opposite in both our teaching styles and in the way we go about things, and so it is difficult for us to reach a common middle ground. This SAC that we are giving them tonight was not written early enough for my liking, and so I am feeling like we are all under-prepared, and I can't work like that. So even though it is another 7 weeks until the next SAC is due to be done, I will be insisting that it is written much earlier, so that there is not the type of rush that there has been this time around. It is just very difficult to get my colleague on task and organised to get things finished. But in a lot of ways this colleague is dealing with a lot; new school, new subjects and a whole new culture, so in a lot of ways I understand, but it does not make it any easier to get things done with her!
That is one of the things that is difficult about this year - dealing and working closely with new staff members who do not necessarily share the same ideas as you, or the same work ethic and with who you are writing assessment, planning curriculum and cross-marking. I am finding it very hard to feel on top of things when a lot of my time is spent waiting on things. I guess that some of that comes from my anally organised nature - I like to be able to plan ahead, but when I am relying on another teacher to be able to do that then that is a bit of a problem.
Anyway, enough of the whingeing. My double is coming to a close and some of the students have finished off their writing task and are getting restless so I better sign off here.
Off to the SAC I go - so so nervous!