First day of school

 Today was my first full day of teaching, and BOY am I exhausted. I feel like I need to remove my throat and let it rest for a while. My feet hurt, I'm sweaty, and I no longer have a voice, but to be completely honest, I am soooo happy right now. I did it! Today was a successful day and I am so proud of myself. Of course the day wasn't perfect, but I learned a lot and I'm excited for this school year.

     I learned some of the dynamics of my classroom. First period are angels sent straight from heaven. They may be a little sleepy, but they are even good for me in 4th period when we have class together again. On the other hand, 7th and 8th periods are hellions. Wow, those kids can talk and I find myself telling them to be quiet over and over and over again. I can tell that they will be my classroom management class. This may be tough, because by the end of the day I am tired and a little more short tempered. But I need to recognize this in myself and be aware of how I am treating the kids. There are 5 boys who just love to talk and goof around in this class. I just barely made my seating charts for this term and I am SOOOO excited to implement them tomorrow. Hopefully this will cure a lot of the problems.

      But let me also tell you about some of my successes. The first time I met with my students today, we talked about the classroom as a game. It turned out to be a wonderful discussion where we all compared our favorite sports/teams to the classroom. I felt like this lesson really engaged the student's interest and helped them see my vision for our classroom community. The second time we met, we went over my disclosure document and then did an activity where the students set up their pairs for the year (called the appointment clock). I had to help some of the shy kids get involved, but overall I felt proud of my students and their abilities to get outside of their comfort zones to get to know each other. 

     Other random things that happened: One student offered me cat jerky....sketchy! I received two drawings from students-- one of a saber-toothed tiger (it honestly looks like an oversized hamster with fangs, and a chicken fighting a turkey in a plane). And I was told I looked nice by my principal.