The first day of school arrived and went without any major crises and accompanying disaster. This, in itself, was amazing. The air conditioning worked, the phones worked, and the computers worked. Granted, the transportation website that we use to locate kids' bus numbers crashed, but other than that, it appeared to go pretty well.
And considering that it was 102 degrees outside, that's a good thing.
Every year I'm one of the teachers that volunteers to go out to the buses, get on the bus with marker in hand and write down bus numbers on the hands of the middle schoolers. (We do this because you'll ask a middle schooler what bus they get on to go home and they'll tell you "the one that stopped at my house"...with 30 buses lined up behind the school at dismissal, it's a little tough to figure out which one that is.) We started doing this at 7:00 am and the buses were already sweltering. Some of the buses were just crammed with kids, and they had to have been just about fed up with the heat. I can only imagine how the buses were later when they took the kids home.
Our guidance department did some unique scheduling this year so one team wouldn't end up with all the troublemakers, lower kids, smart kids, etc. The idea was to balance it all out a bit more. I can't tell if it worked or not yet, but I did notice that I didn't have too many kids who stood out with that "I'm going to be the thorn in your side this year" look. There definitely were a few, but not an overwhelming number.
This is a good thing. A very good thing.
I did notice that it seems as if nearly every sixth grader who was a member of the chess and board game club last year is now on my team. This means I seem to have a number of classes that have a relatively high proportion of, well, nerds. Face it, a lot of the kids in the club are a bit on the dorky side, which is one of the things I like about them. Mrs. Eagle said she didn't recognize any of the kids from the club last year so apparently they really are in my classes and not hers. In the meantime she says she has more siblings than ever before.
We did have a few minor problems, most of them having to deal with kids who didn't know their bus number, who didn't (apparently) follow directions to hold out their hand so we could write their bus number of it, didn't know their address, and didn't know their phone number. I'm amazed they made it to class. I'm assuming they made it home since we didn't get any hysterical parent calls reporting a missing kid.
It remains to be seen how this year is going to turn out. In the meantime, I'm ready to get it going. It's nice to be back in the routine again.
Although getting up at 4:45 in the morning still sucks.
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4 comments:
Nothing like making it through the first day. After reading your post, I am kind of excited for my year to start. You have to admit the newness thrill of a new batch of kids is a lot of fun!
You are making me feel more reassured about what to expect at my own school on the first day. I am praying for a first day easiness like yours.
I am a nervous wreck about Monday. The butterflies have kept me awake. Hence this post at this terrible hour.
WTG!!! and thanks for sharing it with us!
Your school year has started already? Where do you teach?
Here in Dallas, we are starting late this year -- August 27. So I still have a FEW more weeks to be a bum.
And believe me, I would MUCH rather have a class full of nerds that a class full of brats or bullies. Maybe that's just the nerd in me speaking, but I would definitely take that over what I am expecting to have this year...
You are done with the first day of school. Congrats! I'm glad that everything went relatively easy for you. Here's hoping that it's indicative of your year to come :)
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