I knew that I should have written a post after my very first day, because now I can hardly remember what it was like. It's all a blur! I have duty on Mondays, so I got to school super early and my first introduction into the world of teaching was standing in the cafeteria monitoring behavior as kids came in from the buses. I chose my first day outfit very carefully and I wore a sensible pair of heels (that I also once thought were comfortable). The heels came off after first period. Even so, after wearing sandals the rest of the day, I was in disbelief over how badly my feet and legs hurt after day one. I have 7th period planning, the last period of the day, so while in some ways it's a huge blessing, it also means that literally the only time I sit down is at lunch (teachers eat with our classes in the caf every day). And if I am able to go to the bathroom once during the day I guess that counts too. First lesson learned: physically, teaching is a very taxing job. Not just on the legs and feet, but also I woke up a few days ago from a horribly sore throat after a day that started with singing in the car, continued with my teacher voice throughout six periods, and ended in open house night talking to parents. I was afraid I was going to lose my voice, but instead the sore throat was replaced by sneezing and nasal congestion today. Kids are germy. Very germy.
Second lesson learned on the first day: my kids are not what I was expecting. I was expecting Atlanta. This summer in Atlanta I had 8th graders and summer schoolers, so maybe that accounts for a little bit of the difference, but these kids just seem so much more like kids than they did. My 8th graders in Atlanta were kind of scary. I loved them, but they were scary in the way that I was always scared for their lives and their safety in the back of my head. They weren't scary people, but you could just feel their potential to get mixed up in scary things and be victims of gangs or violence, even if they weren't there yet. The possibility was always there.
My 7th graders here are so...different. The scariness for them is that they will give up on themselves or start believing that they can't do it, because you can see some of them starting to think that way. But I don't sense the same kind of danger for their lives. Most are so respectful that it sometimes makes me want to laugh and/or cry. I can't believe how many things I say call for "yes ma'am," even when it's not a question. I was shocked--SHOCKED--when I received almost 100% of the homework I assigned on the first day (a parent survey and worksheet about what it means to be a champion). I had to bribe my summer school kids to do homework, and even then they quickly lost interest in that. I was expecting that to be a huge fight. But the first week, we set individual and class goals for ourselves, and on top of actually doing their work, they had specific goals for themselves in mind: the most popular were A/B "anarole" (or "honor roll," to us), making passing or better than average scores on the South Carolina PASS test, and not getting in trouble (if you're a boy) and staying out of drama (if you're a girl). And most of the time, I really feel like these kids come to school knowing that it's a place where they work, and they know that it is important and want to do well. In Atlanta, I was blown away by the extent to which my students hated to be asked to do work. A five-sentence paragraph was too long and boring to read, and asking them to WRITE a five-sentence paragraph, well, you might as well ask them to throw their phone out the window.
Which is another thing: I have not seen one cell phone out or child at school texting. I know they have phones, because they'll talk about them or mention them. But they actually follow the rule that they are to be put away completely at school. It's completely bizarre. And finally, I also haven't heard one curse word, even at lunch or in the hall. I don't know if they just don't say them as much, or if there's a strictly enforced language policy, but it's one of those things that is very notable by its absence. I was expecting swearing on desks and bathroom stalls at the very least, and none of that even.
I don't want you to think that I landed in some kind of preteen utopia...but this post is getting very long and it is way past bedtime. Coming soon: my opinion on single-gender classes (why doesn't everyone do this??) and the top ridiculous student answers on interest surveys! And, something to make you smile. I certainly did. I'll explain these photos later.
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| The top looks weird because I badly edited out the name using Paint. |
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