the feet are tired, but the heart is singing
The first day is always intense. This year I have three period blocks (for humanities), so I was doubly worried about "filling" the time on the first day. The first block, as always, was nowhere near as smooth as the second block. It was really too bad because the first block is significantly lower in skill-level, so I think they would benefit by the smoothness that comes with practice. I'm sure that as the year goes on my patter will even out--but I'm going to make a real effort to over-prepare this year to make sure these kids don't get shortchanged.
I've discovered (as I do each year) that there isn't enough useable space in the room. I would love to use the overhead and the whiteboard, but I think I'm going to stick with the whiteboard and find a projector somewhere to use the computer. The overhead is loud, smells of burning rubber, and heats the room up a few degrees--I just don't want to use it.
The kids were tolerant and sweet--and we worked around the fact that our agendas, our spelling books, and our new history books were all AWOL. I only had one student leave a binder behind. Of course, it was the one student who really, really, needs to work hard this year. But at least he left it under his desk and not on the bus on the way home.
I'm exhausted, but I'm also finally gearing up. It's nearly impossible for me to come up with curriculum without having my students in front of me. Now that they're there, I'm starting to feel the ideas flow. I can't wait for the rest of the year. I can barely handle having to wait until tomorrow!
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