brette

I’ve heard that the first day is relatively easy.  It’s true.  The schedule was absolutely crazy–I had some classes for over an hour and others for about 20 minutes–but the kids were really docile.  The 7th graders were scared and nervous, since it was their first day of middle school.  The 8th graders were a little more squirrelly, but still pretty well-behaved.  I think I already know who some of my more challenging students are going to be, but it will certainly be interesting to see their true colors come out.

As a “get to know you” activity, I gave them a survey to fill out.  My favorite questions to read were “What’s something most people don’t know about you?”  “What’s something you’re good at?  What’s something you aren’t so good at?” and “As your teacher, is there anything else I should know about you?”  By reading through the responses I’ve learned a number of interesting things:

• One of my students is not good at taking care of babies
• Many of my students are good at dancing
• “IDK” is a very popular acronym
• One of my students likes it when people push him to do the right thing
• A few of my students are shy
• One gets picked on a lot
• One wants me to know that he’s good lookin’
• A few don’t have many friends
• Quite a few want me to know that they aren’t good at math, while others want me to know that they are good at math
• One is happy all the time
• One is hardly ever happy, another is lonely
• One is “a very emotional girl”

I had almost forgotten what an emotional, psychological roller-coaster middle school is.  It will definitely be interesting to see how they “grow up” over the next year (or two, for my 7th graders).  Already, though, I love them.

I also gave homework to their parents–a piece of paper that says “In a million words or less, tell me about your child ”  I stole the idea from teachers.net, I think.  Apparently, many teachers have gotten some very heartwarming responses, ’cause parents like to brag about their kids.  I hope it works.

Whatever happened to the calm before the storm? It’s the night before the first day of school, and I’m definitely not getting any of that “calm” feeling.

Instead, the nerves are coming in waves. There are so many things to consider and do, and it’s difficult to juggle them all in my mind. I did not start off on the right foot with my students during Institute, and I don’t want to make the same mistake again. I know that if I don’t assert my authority to begin with, it will be that much more difficult to regain control. But then again, I feel much more confident now that I am the Instructional Leader of my classroom. I’ve also had a lot more training since I first stepped into a classroom more than two months ago. So we’ll see.

I feel like I’m at the edge of a cliff, looking into a deep pool of water. All I have to do is take a couple steps and jump. I know that it will be fun and exhilarating and exciting, but it’s also very scary. The longer I stand at the edge, the more nervous I get and the more I psych myself out. What I really need to do is just take a deep breath and go for it–I know I won’t regret it.

Here goes nothing.