First Day of School

Inspired. Exhausted. Proud. Hopeful.
What a first day it was! After a full week of session after session on classroom visions, lesson planning, and behavior management strategies, the real, pubescent ninth graders showed up at our classroom door. And they are all boys, all seven of them. We were forced to be flexible right away, as we were expecting nineteen students and only two arrived. Eventually a few more trickled in, but they happened to come in in the middle of the explanation of the rules, unfortunately missing all of the warm, cozy investment exercises that preceded the stern, ever bland business of classroom policies.

But we rolled with the changes, and the boys were very well behaved. They've shown us how quiet and engaged they can be, so we can go forward with very high behavioral expectations. It was heartbreaking, though, to see the majority of them stand up speechless when asked to offer their "dream job." Some shrugged their shoulders and looked at the ground, eventually settling on something like "football player." Others, however, proclaimed that they would join the national guard, program computers, or be an auto mechanic. When we asked them what success looked like, one said that he wanted a better house than the one he grew up in. Someone else said they wanted to move somewhere new. Some said they wanted to go to college, and when prodded and built up, the others joined in on the college train.

I am glad that the testing is done. Those kids had to sit through a total of three hours of diagnostic exams today. Tomorrow I get to teach my first math lesson! It is on order of operations, and I am excited about my clear key points and engaging activity. Let's hope it goes well!

On a side note, I met with the principal of my placement school for the fall. Because this will be the principal's first year and 80% of the staff will be new, he is trying to keep scheduling simple, which means that I will only be teaching Algebra II (in contrast to the expected combo of Math, French, and ACT prep). There are up and downsides to the revelation, but at least lesson planning will be much simpler.