First Days

So. It happened. I went in early, made copies, put up posters, and wrote my name and today's date up on the blackboard.
And I did it again the next day.

Here's how my two classes went:

8th Grade

More than one teacher glanced at my eighth grade class roster and said, "Oh." Not in an encouraging way.

And having spent five hours with these kids so far, I can understand why.

I teach these twenty-four twelve and thirteen year olds for two straight hours first thing every morning. I'm the only adult face they see between homeroom and lunch, and I told them on the first day that this means we'll really have to work at getting along. We're going to be seeing more of each other, I said, than we might see of people in our families.

"Can we do that?" one kid called out, "Can we see people in our families? That'd be great."

Wonderful start.

Here's what two or three of them are experts in: pushing buttons.
Here's what the rest of them are experts in: following the lead of the two or three button pushers.
Here's what we've accomplished so far: nothing.

Yesterday, we spent the entire two hour period on one activity, because I had to keep stopping to ask for quiet, to count down from five, or to erase a point from the blackboard. The kids who like to work were bored because we weren't doing any. The kids who like to talk were upset because I kept telling them not to.

Here's a short scene from our morning:

Me: Who's bored? I'm bored. Raise your hand if you're bored.

twenty-four hands go up.

Me: I think we're bored because we're moving so slowly. A few people are really slowing us down. Let's all turn and look at the person who's slowing us down right now.

twenty-three heads turn to look at Julio [not his real name] who is already sitting by himself and already expecting me to call his house this weekend. Of course he just keeps talking because I have, brilliantly, given him exactly what he wanted.


So. I've already got parents and grandparents to call, a stack of half-finished homework assignments to grade, and a sinking feeling that Monday isn't going to be much better. Every teacher who's had this group before, even the best disciplinarian in the school, says it took at least a few months to "break them in." I'm worried that I just don't have the personality or the will to "break" people. I feel like I'm working against myself.

Still. Most of the other teachers I've met are encouraging and supportive. Another eighth grade teacher, who's new to the school but not to teaching, brought me cookies on the first day and stayed after with me on Friday to plan for the next week. I'm hoping to keep the kids a little busier and hopefully, more on task. Two hours is a long time for anyone, and I'm trying to take that into account.

I'm encouraged by the fact that I don't have any mean spirited troublemakers (yet) - just a bunch of socialites. They're working and they want to get it right, even though I can't come by their desk and help them because I'm so overwhelmed with everything else going on around me. And while one kid started our first day by announcing, "I got forty-five discipline points last year and I'm gonna get forty-five again this year" (fighting will only get you fifteen points,) even he is willing to do his homework and work in class, albeit noisily, and even he is still afraid of a phone call home.
So.

7th Grade

On the first class behavior report I filled out for my seventh graders, I wrote "Angelic!" and they are. They are terrified, wide-eyed innocents in navy blue uniforms, all of them new to the school and to one another. They're scared of getting lost, of the big kids in the hallway, and even of me. Even better, they can't talk in class because they don't yet know who to talk to.

They walk behind me in single file from the lunchroom to the classroom, and sit in alphabetical order without a hint of complaint. They look at me when I'm talking, and raise their hands to ask what the "Do Now" assignment is if I forget to write it on the board.

One girl, crooked teeth and a jumper, spent her summer volunteering at the library. On the survey she filled out for me, she wrote in the space for "anything else you'd like me to know," that she was valedictorian of her elementary school. She is shy, but willing to read aloud in class, and does so with fluency and grace. She's worried about making friends. I praise her and she looks down - I look at her and see myself.

A beautiful small boy with long dreadlocks is worried that he won't meet anyone here.

One boy hopes he'll get a little taller. A girl wants "people to know who I am."

Another says, "the work doesn't fear me so much."

Yesterday, we read a story by Gary Soto called "Seventh Grade" about a boy who tries to impress a girl by pretending to know French. After they read (in silence!) and answered comprehension questions (in silence!) we had a lovely discussion about who in the story we'd like to be friends with, and why. We talked about the different characters' actions, analyzed their personalities, and practiced speaking up so that everyone could hear us.

Then I let them in on the bad news: that, very soon, over on the other side that line of lockers that's about as tall as I am, there's going to be another class going on. That's right, I told them, another class in our same classroom. Their tiny jaws dropped. I know how they feel.

Still, even after the trauma of two hours with my eighth graders, I ended my seventh grade period feeling like I could be helpful to these kids.

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So. Good and bad. I want to cry and I want to smile and I want more time with each kid.

Today I made a notebook with a page for each one of them, both classes, and listed what I know about them so far.

Who are their friends? (I asked them this on their surveys so I'd know who not to group together.) Do they like to read? What kind of books do they like? Do they like English class? (The most popular "favorite class" listing so far is "gym" with "homeroom" and "lunch" tied for second.) Do they like school at all? Do they watch too much TV? Have they already read the books I was going to assign? What are their goals for the year? (Which range from passing to excelling to not talking so much to not getting "kicked up.")

Already, I feel like I know a hundred times more about this job than I did three days ago. Which is good, because Monday morning, I'm going back for more.