First Day

Lots of thoughts on my first day back. First of all, it felt like I never left. It was like riding a bike. I just jumped back on it and began peddling as before. It was quite refreshing to be busy and doing something that I feel competent in.

I learned a lot from my prior experience last time with the kids, the school, the curriculum, etc. My expectations were appropriately calibrated for this experience.

I gave my students a lot of work. They had to copy a lot of things from the board and answer questions related to those descriptions. I did this on purpose, so that I could walk around the room and get to know my students. Every teacher knows the importance of the first day of school. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, as they say. I made sure that their first impression of me was a teacher who is in control, proactive, calm, happy, and is trying to learn their names.

The only rough spot of the day was the girls in the afternoon class. I'm teaching 5th grade students (ages 11-13). These girls are a lot more interested in the boys in the next classroom, than in doing work in my classroom. Once I separated them, they worked better, but there's a group of 4 or 5 of them that are as thick as thieves.

It's safe to say that the attitude of these girls irritated me. I really don't like when students play around too much in the classroom. It irritates me. Every good teacher has patience, but there are some behaviors that "get their goats." I was aware of my irritation and kept it well hidden, by staying consistent with my rules and interactions--staying light and relaxed enough to laugh at a joke or two that one of them made.

At the end of the day, it occurred to me that as a teacher, you are not paid to hold grudges. Even if a kid is an absolute terror in your classroom one day, you must wipe the slate clean and approach that same kid fresh the next day. It may not be fair, but it's absolutely what you have to do. It's some sort of Jedi trick to be learned.