First Day of School

More from my journal.  

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On Friday, Mrs. Moses informed me that I will be teaching the fifth and sixth grade by myself from now on and that she will be taking grades seven and eight.  This meant splitting up the class since she had been teaching all four grades in one room until now.  I was excited about the chance to have a fresh start and my very own classroom and students.  (I’m a little independent.) I was also nervous.  Not only was this to be my first full time teaching experience, my full time grade school experience (I have these kids from 7:30- 2:30!) , and my first time being responsible for the full curriculum, but I was also nervous about the student’s reactions to the change.  

I wanted to make a change.  I didn’t want them to insist that I run the class the way Mrs. Moses did.  I wanted to be in charge.  So, I cleaned the classroom from top to bottom and redecorated.  I put up new pictures, put fresh paper on the bulletin board, and rearranged the books.  I changed the schedule, adding personal worship time, and two full hours of reading. (Reading workshop from Literacy methods class.)  I carefully planned my lessons for the first day, and prayed for the best.  

This morning I awoke to six inches of beautiful white snow.  The whole morning said “Fresh Start.”  My students arrived and were shown to their desks to begin personal worship time following the instructions on the board.  

The day progressed with minimal challenges.  The students are testing me to see if I really mean what I say.  Do I. . . I am still having trouble with group discussions getting out of control.  I will add talking chips tomorrow and see if that helps.  I think I am firm, but exactly how to you get students to take turns talking? 

The girls were a little upset about the change.  At one point both of them were begging to be promoted to seventh grade so they could be back with Mrs. Moses and Brittany.  It didn’t hurt my feelings. . . I don’t like change either.  We got through the morning.  

Case Study student (hereafter referred to as CSS) is struggling in math.  I discovered today that she can do long division accurately in her head but can’t do the steps of a long division problem.  How in the world and what do I do?  She is reticent to do it the hard way since she is getting the right answers.  She will need to be able to use the algorithm when the problems get harder.  I guess I’ll keep teaching and insisting.  

Reading workshop was a huge success.  The students like being read to. . . No surprise there, and they liked the true stories and informational books I insisted they choose.  They liked those too.  Esther really likes Fiddlesticks and Freckles.  (I thought I could count on Sam Campbell).  After thirty minutes of personal reading I directed them to go to the art center (another hugely popular success) and create reading journals.  During the first couple minutes the students were enthusiastic about sharing with their classmates the stories they had read.  Creating a community of readers. . . Yeah!

By the end of the day I had the class won over.  That wasn’t my primary goal, but they learned, they experiences success, they worked hard, they felt good about, and they enjoyed the whole experience.  They left the class enthusiastic about the new program.  One of the girls even said she likes it better this way.  I overheard another say, “We had fun with Miss Johns today.”  I hope that good attitude spreads to Gaby tomorrow.  

I finally got them all to leave at 2:45 and went to work cleaning out the closet, shooing birds out of the school and lesson planning.  Teachers definitely don’t work just eight hours a day.