And so it begins...

A brand new school year, brand new students, brand new attitudes, brand new challenges, and brand new paths for learning and loving. Today was only the fourth day of school. Did you catch that? The FOURTH! And already I’ve felt exhausted, been tested to my limit, doused fires (not literally...thank goodness), chased after an escapee, repeated myself more times than I care to count, modeled, modeled, and modeled some more, worried about my students’ homelives, fretted about their inability to perform at a first-grade entrance level, seen the light at the end of the tunnel, and realized the overwhelming influence I can be in their lives for good.

It’s been a tough four days for me. I really miss third grade and I really, really miss my students from last year and our incredible bond, but I’ve learned that I possess more power and authority than I thought myself capable of. Last year, my desire to be liked by my students ruled over everything I did and was debilitating at times. This year, of course I want my students to like me, but right now, it’s more important to establish a firm foundation in my expectations and procedures, especially with this type of demographic. I’ve been shocked by the disrespect some of my students have shown me, responding with belligerent “No”s and “I don’t want to,"s “You can’t make me”s. Yesterday, one of my many students who had to stay in from recess told me that if he couldn’t go outside than he was leaving. He got up, put on his backpack, and bolted out the door. I literally had to run after him and stop him in the hall. I told him his choices were to go back in the room and sit at his desk or to go talk to the principal. We stayed in the hall, battling it out, for five minutes until he finally chose to go back to the room. When I told the other teachers on my team after school they laughed and shared their similar stories. I guess this is a whole different ballpark, which I knew and tried to prepare myself for, but what can you really do to prepare? You just jump in with a steady head and do your best I guess.

Today we started making our number books and began with the number one. They had to draw four different pictures of one thing. One of my girls drew a picture of me and labeled it “one nice teacher.” I'll take it and keep going!