D-Day

That's right, D-Day. Today marked the beginning of my career as a teacher. Sitting here at 11:25 after the first day of teaching and knowing I have a billion other things I should be doing instead of updating a blog is somewhat daunting. I am no longer in charge of only my life. Instead, I have been enlisted to teach six 7th grade girls for the next ten months. So it begins.

Today was my first day as an official teacher at the Bronx Writing Academy. I can not even begin to express the range of emotions that I felt during those many hours before greeting my students at the doorway of classroom 321. I felt anxious, nervous, excited, sick and somewhat lost. The task ahead seemed larger than life.

Yet, there is good news! It comes in the form of six 7th grade girls, who even just from the first day, have easily won me over. Before the start of the day when I had these six ladies line up at the doorway I was nervous. I was nervous that these six girls would walk all over me, that they would not want to listen to me and that I would not be able to relate to them whatsoever. Luckily I was incorrect. My first day as a 7th grade teacher probably couldn't have been better. Aside from the occasional "I'm tired. This is boring. I already know this stuff!" from some of my students everything went well. My timing was just on target and I was able to pace being with thee students all day. The activities and procedures covered today were all over the board, but I feel confident to say that they will surely be able to remember many of them when we enter the classroom tomorrow. After all I had them line up to practice our dismissal policy about 5 times, one of which included a straight line, hands to your side, stay to the right side of the hall, no talking march through half of our floor at the BWA.

The personalities of each of these six students are unique and large. The excitement that I felt throughout the day can not compare to anything I have ever done. Although I am drained and a little worried about the coming days, weeks and months, I feel confident that the spark I had today with these students will continue on throughout the year. I have such a unique opportunity of working with such a small number of students (even though I am expecting 4 more tomorrow).

That's all I have for now, but trust me it's only the beginning.

Special Note: In this post you will find pictures taken of my class after the first day. As you can see it is no where near where it should be, but DAMN setting up a classroom is hard work. I got that PMA. Check out the progress from the last post to these! Come on! Awesome, right?