“He who opens a school door, unlocks a prison.” —Victor Hugo
Topic:
What most surprised you about the first day of school? Explain.
A lot, really. And then again, it was as if I’ve never had a summer…it’s back to business as usual.
I think first, the day seemed really long! Probably because I went through my syllabus and classroom procedures (“How We Work”) five times. I know that my kids were tired of hearing the same thing class after class, too. So I’m thankful that today we got to shake it up a bit. And by “shake it up” I mean “listen to Old English.” Yep.
Another thing that really threw me off was how “social” some of my 8th graders were! They weren’t afraid to start blurting out things…it’s usually rare that I have to tell a student not to talk on the first day. But these kids are who they are, and I really am excited to get to teach them again this year. I’d rather have a talkative class any day over a shy, silent one. I’m not here to make kids fear me, I’m here to teach them something.
Let’s hope that happens….
Another thing that happily surprised me was how enjoyable “meet the teacher” night was last night. I didn’t think that it was going to be painful or anything, but I didn’t know it would actually fun. But it really was a good time, and I think I’ve got a great group of parents to partner with this year. That’s huge.
Well, that’s it for today. It’s a good start to the school year, and I can’t wait to get to know my students better.
