First Day Back

I was definitely nervous for my first day back after vacation. First of all, I had pretty much done nothing over the break, which was fine. I didn't really have anything to do, I graded the papers that I needed to (plus I offically finished and sent off my thesis... let's see what additional changes Maughan wants to make) but I was worried about the pattern of going to bed really late (darn West Wing episodes, Rob Lowe and Sudoku) and waking up late and then watching a bunch of West Wing episodes and listening to the Outsiders commentary during the day. Anyway, so I was worried about that, and I was also definitely worried about how the kids were going to be. I always remembered how inattentive I was during my first days back when I was in junior high and high school (even college) so I was worried about my kids. But in all honesty, it went really well. First period was actually a little rough but I think, no, i know that tomorrow will be better because my second period, I had hit my stride and the kids had hit their stride as well. And the majority of my seventh graders actually turned their projects in! I was looking over soem of them tonight and most of them are really great. I'm looking forward to the sixth period presentations tomorrow.

In other good news, fifth period has gone really great. Special Ed Boy is still acting up, despite supposedly being scared into submission but when hes's not aroudn or when he's quiet, then the class is so much better. I'm really looking forward to working more with them and seeing how they hopefully continue to improve. In even more good news, I pretty much have seventh grade lesson plans taken care of until... wait for it... wait for it... next Tuesday! Yes! We're testing next Tuesday and so basically, I have the entire unit planned out. So that's really nice and will help me to focus more on the eighth graders.

So all in all, it was a really great day, not at all as bad as I thought/expected/assumed, etc. And, January means three-day weekend. Thank you MLK for all that you did for Civil Rights and I'm sorry that you had to die for us to have a three-day weekend. But I appreciate it nonetheless.

Oh, and the final good news before I go. I think I'm going to Idaho during the second week fo April. This means I'll get to see my kids from last year! Yay!!!