A little over a week was
left till the school year began. This was your first teaching position,
alone, in your own classroom. Who said you could have the training wheels
taken off? All of a sudden, the time spent student teaching seems too
short. A mix of euphoria and nervousness settles into the pit of your
stomach. It turns into a game of counting sheep for
nights leading up to the first day of school: Your. First. Teaching. Position.
Alone. In. Your. Own. Classroom.
You stepped right into
the-end-of-summer-vacation tradition started by teachers before you: you got
into your classroom the week before you actually started teaching.
Cleaned out all of the old, dust-ridden 1970's English books, the random
beading supplies and rock-hard sculpting clay. September of 2007, your
classroom went from being a language arts and art classroom to now housing only
seventh grade mathematics. (As a matter of fact and some readers are
probably wondering with me, why did you not save the beads? Those are
valuable math manipulatives. However, that will be a later discussion).
Essentially, you started what you should have done every summer after:
de-cluttering whatever was collected that year before. In every teacher,
there is a small hoarder living inside, screaming to save the 30 broken white
crayons and 12 half-used notebooks. Rule of thumb you will learn the hard
way when years later, you will have to move classrooms and trash fifteen bags
worth of your six-year long collection: if it was not used in the past year,
trash, recycle or pass along to someone who (thinks) can use it.
Sharing or giving leads
to meeting and making new relationships - along with smiles. I wish
someone would have told you would need any way possible to get into the
previously created cliques. Even if you could not find any teacher to
take those brittle, yellow-paged English textbooks, this could have helped you
meet new coworkers. Sweating in unity, the last few days of your summers
off and stepping in with an "offering" can be icebreakers.
Summers later, you will finally notice s^3 works: smile, sweat, and
share.
Speaking of people, you
brought your posse to help - mother, 17 year old brother, and best friend,
who helped you clean, set up bulletin boards, and arrange desks. By
enlisting the help of any victim around you with any free
time, you got your classroom in tip top shape. Garfield the Cat motivational
poster was up. Variables and Patterns word wall was finished. The student
supply center was organized. Always keep looking for those volunteers and
keep them coming <insert your choice of "offering" here>.
Once you got the
physical space of your classroom organized, you went into the management
portion. You drew up a seating arrangement with names jotted in and thought of
some classroom rules. Boy, that first year was rough. Your second year,
you will do much better. That Harry Wong book will come in handy, helping you create clear classroom expectations and a math contract directed to both
students and their parents, informing them of your procedures and course
outline. However, this, too, you will change. As years go on, students
will help you create the classroom expectations, taking ownership of what
behavior is acceptable. You will eventually create a classroom website that will house all of this information, putting the responsibility on your students if they lose
any copies. Go ahead and introduce your website on day one. Your
sanity, the environment and your school's ten year old copy machine will thank
you. You should have done all of this from day one
on year one of your teaching career. Classroom management should never be
an after-thought, especially if you cherish your sanity. As a matter of fact, since your school is organized into learning communities, you should have used the house teachers for help in this area. You could have saved yourself many headaches tackling the behavior problems that would arise, low homework completion rates, and understanding the overall running of the school if you would have hunted the veteran teachers down. (I can attest, they are friendlier than they seem and willing to be used).
Who knew so much would go into that week before starting your first day of your new life as a teacher, huh?
You did well in the culminating step: picking out the outfit.
You wanted to strut into your classroom first day of school and mean
business, not blend in with your 24 taller-than-you seventh graders. Even
though this meant saving your Forever 21 inspired outfit for later on in the
school year. You wore something professional that made YOU feel in
charge. You knew exactly which outfit that was: your
high-waist, knee-length black pencil skirt with a 3/4 sleeve, burgundy, button-down shirt tucked in. Oh, and you didn't forget about those things
that go on your feet. You made sure they were comfortable but gave you that
extra humph. As a 4'11 woman, you knew that extra humph meant three-inch,
black pumps.
Fast-forward six Augusts
later, to 2013. You are now about to begin your seventh year of teaching.
You have entered into the last-week-of-summer countdown. Teacher
routine activate! Even though you are no longer that first year teacher,
you remain reflective, (better) prepped, and open to the new challenges ahead, though
that feeling of counting sheep will never leave you.
Sincerely,
Me (Six Augusts Later)
