I'm not sure how other schools work on the first day, but at Tech the kids are herded into the commons at 8:35 where they then receive their schedules. After these youngsters get a hold of their color-coded schedules, the returning students are instructed to swiftly get to Block 1. The new students are lead to the first destination of their day-long orientations. As it turns out, my Block 1 class is a ninth grade class. So, logically, I had a nearly empty classroom for this block. I had one student in my ninth grade class (he failed his second semester of English 9 last year; thus, he is a returning student), so we played Scrabble. To my surprise, this young man was energetic, hopeful, and excited that he has me for two blocks in one day (that means he is with me for three hours of the day!). This one-on-one time was incredibly helpful to me. It really eased my nerves about the entire day. I don't know if he knows that he had that kind of impact on my mental well-being, but I was truly grateful for his individual company. My tenth grade classes (blocks 2 and 3) were also lacking in the attendance area (Tech doesn't take attendance on the first day because of the new student orientation, so word gets out), and all of the students who I met today were pleasant. I even had a few girls write comments for the comment box that stated, "you are going to be my favorite teacher!" Awww, isn't that sweet--don't worry, I know they are playing the game. :)
Looking back at the day, I have NOTHING to complain about. There wasn't a single moment in the day when I felt overwhelmed or out of control. I felt AMAZING. I felt so good about the day, that I am almost more nervous about tomorrow than I was about today. Being a lightly seasoned teacher, I have had the opportunity to learn a few things about teaching, and one of the first things I learned is that you should never get overly excited (or disappointed) about a day at school--things can (and probably will) be COMPLETELY different the next day. So, with that thought in mind, I am going to approach tomorrow with the same "green" attitude that I had today. I'm sure tomorrow will bring its own set of interesting circumstances.
Some random thoughts from today that I want to remember:
1. We only had two suspensions today (an altercation between two young men in the morning). I am pretty proud of the kids for this considering how chaotic the scheduling process was. We had about 1200 kids in the commons area getting papers thrown at them, and also having their bags searched.
2. A certain student that I had at Riverside (who also happens to be "that kid" that I will NEVER forget from my student teaching) now goes to Tech, and I saw him in the hallway. I'm sure I've spoken about this student in every blog I wrote while at Riverside, and I'm sure I made a "code" name for him, but the name has slipped me. Just trust me when I say that his presence at Tech feels like a guardian angel. He is definitely a substantial young man, and he was one of the biggest pains in my butt at Riverside, but I can't even describe to you how good it felt to see him today. :)
3. A young lady in my block 2 class introduced herself and by stating that her interesting fact about her is that she has anger problems. The class (as well as I) was caught off guard by this uninvited honesty, but I thanked her for her forwardness. She is going to be a tough cookie, and I am going to need to pay special attention to her. Unfortunately, I can tell by her demeanor that she is carrying a heavy load around with her. She seems to have a permanent gray cloud over her head, and a facial expression that reads, "Don't ask, just trust me; I have a reason to hate the world." In addition to her up-front confession about anger, this young lady informed me (via her comment card) that she DESPISES group-work. I have to make some sort of accommodation for this issue because she was willing to communicate this with me. I'm thinking that I will ask to speak with her individually, and ask for her compliance with a valiant attempt to participate in group work. I will try to work out some sort of discreet signal that she can flash at me if she is about to lash out at one of her group members, and then I can give her work to complete individually (but I would like her to stay in the group proximity). Hopefully this will help her feel more comfortable with my sensitivity to her needs, and my ultimate hope is that she will gradually begin to feel confident about being in a group setting.
4. I got an IEP in my mailbox today. Seems like I'm going to have an interesting situation in my ninth grade class... Don't worry, I was given crisis process for when this student engages in violent and defiant behaviors. Ugh. I am doing my best to keep an open mind about this young man's situation, but I already know that I have a HUGE weakness with Sp.Ed. kids who have behavior issues. Maybe this is fate's way of forcing me to confront this issue and take the steps necessary to address this personal deficit...
For now, I'm going to keep on keeping on. :)
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