One down...

I am tired.

Fortunately, this time it’s the kind of tired that accumulates from too much of a good thing (several good things, even). I have survived my first week of teaching; a week that included changing the name of my course, a fourteen hour day on Back to School Night, improvising due to a malfunctioning projector, and employing the principal as an emergency substitute when an IEP meeting ran long. This week has already felt like a month, except I hope that in a month, I know a lot more than 60% of my students’ names!

All of that sounds negative, but as I had hoped/expected, this has been one of the most rewarding and affirming weeks I’ve had in a long time. I'm amazed at how quickly I went from the terror of realizing that of everyone in the room, *I* was supposed to be in charge (yikes!) to the familiar ease of talking with kids and leading them toward a goal. I already feel right at home in my classroom with these fascinating students, and I’m cheesily excited about what we’ll be able to accomplish together this year. Our classroom already feels both fun and productive, and I hope we can maintain that balance as the kiddos get crazier.

Some highlights from week one:

• I’m creating a fleet of miniature copy editors by offering extra credit if they find published mistakes to put on our “wall of shame.” There have already been submissions.

• I spied a student carefully copying Thursday’s “Big Word of the Day” onto a growing list at the back of her journal, completely unprompted. Call me dorky, but that's awesome.

• Magnetic poetry is a big hit - the best additions to my metal desk and bookshelf so far are: “death must be 2 good to like mr. experience,” “whisper music in a picture/I almost run 2 winter inc./diamond feet boil over scholarships,” and my personal favorite, “a juggernaut butt said you have a repulsive man lust.” (That one is just so perfectly middle school boy…)

I very smartly planned for them to do their first class presentations for the next two days so that I could take today off – happy birthday to me! I’ve already watched one movie and there’s another on tap, but for now I’m grabbing a book and I’ll catch you poolside. ;)