I've made it through the first six days of school. Luckily days 1&2 and days 3-6 were separated by the glorious 3 days weekend of Labor Day. The students needed it as much as I did.
Despite 12 previous years of first grade teaching experience, these first six days (as always) have taught me a few things.
1.) The best laid plans are just that. Best laid plans. I HAVE so many plans for the year and I pictured the year starting off much smoother so I could start many new things in the first week or two--Seesaw, class Twitter, morning meetings, reader/writers workshop. And then I met my class--lovely, wonderful and sweet children who want nothing more than to share and learn with their classmates. We are working on taking turns, listening and all those skills I forget happen between September in June because I remember the first graders I sent off to second, not who they were when we began our journey.
2.) Adjusting to a full day of school takes TIME. The majority of my students attended Kindergarten at my school in a half day program. The leap from 2 1/2 hours of learning to being at school for 6 1/2 hours is a big one. I spent most of my afternoons this past week assuring them that yes, I wouldn't forget to pack up and no, it was not time to go home yet.
3.) I need to stop talking. Making a list of rules for school, one of my students came up with "Listen to the teacher talk all day long." Oops. It could be that she is an English language learner and her parents had a different school experience they have prepared her for, or it could be that I was talking too much. I'm trying very hard not to talk so much. But first I need to model sharing our thinking...only 2 or 3 of them have the hang of that. Refer back to #2.
4.) Model, model, model. Model some more. I know this, I learned this at Responsive Classroom. It is so hard to keep modeling and have the kids keep modeling because I want to teach. Oh wait, modeling is teaching? Already this year i have modeled more than ever before. I am hoping it pays off down the road.
5.) Be read for anything. On the 5th day of school I got a new student from Turkey, who does not speak a word of English. I knew this would be happening, but not when it would happen. He arrived in my room one morning with his mother (who thankfully speaks some English) and we were off. I didn't even have his name! Having him as a part of the community is helping me to talk a little bit less (I'm fairly wordy), because I don't want to overwhelm him. I talk a lot, refer back to #3.
6.) I am the captain of the ship. This is actually advice my wonderful art teacher (yes, my art teacher K-8 and wonderful coworker) gave me on the way out Friday. I was exhausted and still had work to do (need to work on organization throughout the day, not staying late on Friday!). She told me that even Barbara (my 1st grade amazing teacher) had days like this. She reminded me I am the captain, I am in charge.
I'm taking the weekend to rest, regroup and plan for the next 5 days. Each day is better than the next and I know that all of the planning, ideas and organization will pay off.
