Year 5, Day 1 (and 2)

We're back!

School has begun. The first day is always extremely high pressure. We need to show our students that they can't get away with anything. ANYTHING. It's very stressful, but it pays off in the long run when our students know how they are expected to sit, write, act, and speak.

My kids this year are nice. I'm excited to work with them.

Plus, my favorite few students from last year are back in 7th grade again, so I get to continue the relationships I've build with them so far. There will be stories to catch up on, I promise.

The first day went extremely well - my classes were near-perfect. However, I want to push them further. There were very few behavioral problems, but the students tend to get fidgitier by the end of the day (if you don't think fidgitier is a word, you've never met a 7th grader with a 10-hour school day). While my first two classes were extremely well-behaved, my last class is in the last hour of the day. They were a little antsy, and there was...noise. Not really talking, but just more sounds and movement.

And today, I wasn't a whole lot better at managing them. Again, my morning classes were great, and we're really zooming through the content. The last class was fast-paced and fun, and we got through the content, but there was a lot more silliness. We can have silliness, later, but we need to get the basics down first. I need to make a point of slowing down or stopping the class if there is any off-task behavior or excess movement, even if it means I don't finish the content. As we're told all the time, any time we spend now on routines and procedures is time saved down the line. 2 minutes lost to make sure students understand the expectations in Week 1 can save hours and hours later in the year, if it means that we don't lose the 10, 20, or 30 seconds every day resetting the class.

I am teaching new content this year - the 7th graders are getting 8th grade content, so it's more challenging for them (and new for me). I don't yet know what they will pick up quickly, and what will be more challenging. Although my 8th grade partner is great at predicting and explaining, since she has taught this for two years now, it's frustrating to have less instinct around the curriculum this year. It's a fun challenge/frustration, though, because it gives me a chance to learn a little more about 7th graders and their science-learning habits.

Today my principal complimented me in the middle of class for my Economy of Language. Imagine that.

2 days done. For day 3, my goal is to keep up the consistency through 3:25 PM. It's the last hour that's a killer.