First Class Done and I am Still Alive!

It is now 10:07 a.m. on Monday, August 22, 2005.

I HAVE FINISHED MY FIRST CLASS!

I am officially a teacher!

It went pretty well, not great, as you might expect. In honor of my friend Lee Evans, I made it a point to shake hands with every student and welcome them to the classroom. We did some name sorting activities and a quick slide show to discuss what we will be covering in the classroom. We then played a "Game to Help Mr. B. Learn Names." Of course, I don't play your typical game. We played Werewolf. Werewolf is a psychological game wherein players must decided who is lying and who is telling the truth. To help me with names, everyone had to say "My name is XXX" before they spoke in the game. I got some names. Not all. I stink at names.

Because we are going to be doing writing in the class, I then had the students write for 5 minutes regarding the game, what they thought of it, how it was played, what strategies they might use next time they play and so forth. I was pleased that kids actually wrote for the 5 minutes in relative silence.

One guy is trying to push limits early, but I think it will be ok. He just wants to act hyper in a quiet classroom.

Anyway, the first battle is over and I seem to have survived.

One weird bit of news, however, that I got this morning is that both of my classes are actually Year Long classes. I did not know this. I assumed that they were only semester classes. This may change my longterm approach.