The FIRST day of school!

Okay, that was not a very creative title for the start of this blog. Give me some credit! I just finished my first day of school!

So I wanted to write yesterday about my thoughts and feelings before going into my first day teaching, but just ran out of time to do so. However, let me share some thoughts that I had yesterday with those that I have of today.

NERVOUSNESS!!!! That is the single, best word that described how I was feeling Monday...all day. Throughout the summer, I read the Harry Wong's The First Days of School and tried to understand his techniques. Then there was a video series about the book that I tried to watch. During teacher in-service, we watched a video about Love and Logic and using that in the classroom. I asked other teachers for advice. I read through the books of the classes I was going to teach. I even decorated my room to the best of my inexperienced ability. Yet, none of that prepared me enough for what I was about to go through. None of that training beforehand will get rid of all the nervousness and butterflies in my stomach. In fact, it sometimes made me more nervous because I had all these ideas I wanted to follow and implement. I knew I couldn't do them all, but knowing what procedures were going to work and what wasn't going to work was a tricky matter. Anyways, suffice it to say, I was extremely nervous when I went to bed that night.

Now today I thought it went better than I could have expected. Of course, that was my opinion and maybe not the opinion of others. A good thing about having a brother being in a class that you are teaching is that you get instant feedback from student responses. After teaching him in trigonometry, Matt was able to get students' opinion about how my class was going. From several of the students they said that I was nervous but understood that I am a new teacher. So I guess my nervousness did shine brighter than I expected. Oh, well. I hope tomorrow goes better than today. Actually I will be doing less talking for sure. For the most part I was talking throughout the entire period going over procedures and routine. It wasn't very fun and I don't think the students were into it. I think I could definitely change things up next year, but I hope the rest of the year will go better. I must say, though, that the students behaved with respect and honesty. That is awesome and I appreciate that.

One thing that I enjoyed doing today was sharing my story about myself and a little devotion from the Bible. It was short but I think that got things off on the right foot. Maybe I should share more stories about myself in the future. I think the students really enjoyed that more. I don't know...in my youth I feel nervous and untrained. I pray that I will continue to grow in strength and courage throughout the year. I'm sure the students will teach me a lot this year.

See you soon...