First Week Update

It's Friday night, and the first week of school is officially over. (Can you hear the hallelujah chorus?) I'm pretty exhausted, what with leaving the house at 7 every morning and not getting home till 6 or 6:30 most nights this week, but it's cool. I had a really great first week of school. (Hey, that rhymed!)

Every year I get so nervous before school starts. As frequent readers of my blog know, I have panic attacks, nightmares, etc. in the weeks leading up to the first day. It seems, however, that every year I teach it gets a little better. Isn't that great? I'm so excited about the new challenges and opportunities that this year will bring.

Some of my fave moments from this week:

- being asked about fifty million times, "How old are you, Mrs. James?" This would definitely win the prize for hottest topic of the week in my class. One of my girls asked me this yesterday, and I said, "24." She said, "Really? My cousin at the high school told me you was 19!" This morning another student said, "I'm sorry Mrs. James, but you just look like a teenager!" Oh well, I guess worse things could be said about me. :)

- seeing how timid and unsure of themselves my kids are at the beginning of school. The 6th graders are the youngest ones in the middle school, so the first week they're very shy and a little scared, I'm sure. It's so cute!

- witnessing the initial excitement our classroom library brings about. I probably have at least a hundred books in my class to check out, and the kids are always so excited to see them all! Today we did what's called a book pass, where in a short time span the kids get to look at about 25 books. They look at one book for a minute or so, and then they pass it on. They were so eager to get the next book, and then to check out a book at the end. Some of their excitement for reading won't last very long, but it was great to see!

- being reminded that what I do actually matters. It's easy to forget sometimes how much of an impact I can have in the lives of these children. I mean, I see them 5 days out of the week for 9 months out of the year. That's a lot of time! It's humbling, and a little scary, to think that all of my actions, everything I say to them, will affect them in some way. My constant prayer is that the Lord will give me a compassionate heart for every child. That He'll remind me that these are people's babies, not just numbers and test scores. It's pretty exciting to know that every day I go to work, I have the opportunity to make a difference. Kinda sappy, I know, but it's true. Being a teacher definitely comes with its challenges and struggles, but I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing with my life.


All in all, it was a great week. Thank goodness it's over! Now I've got most of the nervousness behind me, and we can get down to this learning business. Bring it on! ;)