AuburnChick's Adventures

This afternoon, I left my classroom around 3pm, ready to head home after a week of prep work.

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The things I’d hidden away in June had been pulled out…the room reset.

Thanks to one of my school’s secretaries, my tables were located and needed only to be rearranged.  My favorite art teacher lent his muscle and helped me move the extra furniture out (see the before and after pictures below).

I’d loaded up my car with my much-beloved mini-fridge and boxes of notebooks and folders…an overflowing bag of novels balanced precariously on top…just another day at the office.

I’d created a poster for my door, following a template I’d first seen on Facebook and later printed from this website (found the markers at Joann’s Fabrics).

Although my teacher computer wouldn’t work the past two days, I didn’t let that stop me.

I rearranged books and created lesson plans.  I set up students in Remind 101, Plickers, ClassDojo, and my Smartboard response system.

I spent a lot of time with a couple of newbie teachers in my department, hired a scant few days ago.

They were stressing…majorly.  My heart went out to them.

Despite the numerous in-service meetings and endless to-do list, something strange has occurred.

I feel at peace.

I’m enjoying a calm that has eluded me the night before the first day of school in all of my previous years of teaching.

I don’t know most of the students who will enter my room tomorrow.  I have only talked with one, actually, and that was because he was good friends with a student I taught last year.

I’ll have over fifty new names and faces to memorize.

I remain serene.

I talked about this to Cinda, my friend and mentor.  She happened to call me early this afternoon while I was still at school.

She expressed pleasure at how far she’s seen me travel the past four years that she’s known me.  Though I expressed trepidation at teaching an ESE class this year, she allayed my fears and told me that I possessed the skills to teach these students…that she’d witnessed how I created relationships with children…how my classroom management provided much-needed structure and consistency.

And so I’ll head to bed after spending time in God’s Word.

I’ll thank Him for the confidence that the past five years has provided.

I’ll ask for His nudging when it’s time to wake up…I’ve set three alarms just to be sure.

I’ll read my First 5 devotion before I get out of bed, and I’ll spend time in prayer.

Then, I’ll greet my day, genuinely excited…eager to greet a new group of 9th grade homeroom students (my 12th grade homeroom kiddos graduated this past May after we spent four years together).

Ready or not, here I come…jumping eagerly into my sixth year of teaching.

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: first day of school, teaching | 1 Comment »