First Week of School

      Thursday was the kickoff for the first day of school--and my first day as a real teacher! The week leading up to that was spent working in my classroom; I put up some semblance of decorations, tried to organize, started rewriting the syllabus for each of my three classes, and began lesson planning. When Wednesday night rolled around my classroom was essentially ready. Not so much the teacher.  I had a plan for the next day, with the exception of Homeroom which I would have for an entire hour and didn't want to bore by spending that 60 minutes reading school rules. After creating a few more things for my classroom and making some notes of things to discuss with each class I attempted sleep. 

My first attempt at a bulletin board, located in the hallway outside my classroom.

   

       The next morning I arrived at school half an hour early to try and collect my thoughts. I was still in a state of nervousness when my first batch of students, 7th graders, filtered in. Their eyes were huge, taking in everything around them, looking extra relieved that they had made it to the right classroom. It was their first day on the High School side of the building; their class schedule was completely different, their classrooms were completely different, procedures such as homework being posted online were completely different. They looked like rabbits frozen in the backyard when someone opens the door quickly. Already we had so much in common!

    

     To my surprise, the day went very smoothly. My 7th and 8th graders were exceptionally well-behaved, though my 9th graders absolutely love to talk. Constantly. I integrated a classroom management procedure called Teacher vs. Class that one of my new co-workers introduced me to. Each of my classes now has a chart that says "Ms. Kramer vs. [Class Period]". If the class does well following directions and being quiet when asked, they receive a tally in their column on the white board; if the opposite happens, or if the majority of the class is unprepared, I receive a tally. At the end of the day, whoever wins receives a tally on their official chart on the wall and if they beat me at the end of the quarter, they'll get some type of prize. The 7th graders and 8th graders thus far are getting really into this, but 9th grade doesn't seem to care as much. I think I just need to win them over first.

      Friday also went smoothly. Our school has a block schedule with 90 minute class periods and a two-day rotation. This means I see each class every other day for 90 minutes. Friday was Cycle B, so I saw one group of 7th grade, 8th grade, and 9th grade. Again, the day went quite smoothly. 9th grade proved to be a challenge yet again, so I doled out two "see me after class" instructions and, without knowing beforehand what was coming out of my mouth, explained that the behavior of the two students was not acceptable and was disrespectful and disruptive. And yes, what followed was the age-old teacher comment "and you can do better than that." I suppose only Tuesday will tell if it was effective.

      Overall, even with a few challenges, I think the first week went well. I found that I felt more comfortable being the sole teacher in charge than I had expected and that getting to know the students, interacting with them, and trying to correct their behavior came pretty naturally.  ¡Gracias a díos!