End of Week 1

Today was my first Friday as a teacher, and I must say that I had almost forgotten how much I love teaching.  I love the fact that I don't have to follow another teacher's lesson, I'm teaching the subject that I am an expert at, and I'm getting the chance to make connections and build that trust with my students!  Not only that, but I finally have coworkers again!  I haven't had coworkers since I quite the Security Monitor Program in May of 2007, so it's nice to have adults to talk with who are doing the same thing I am.

While there have been some more difficult parts to my first week teaching my own classes, I've most definitely walked out of school each day with a pretty goofy looking grin on my face.  Some of the kids in one of my hours are complete little shits, but even over the course of 4 days, they've stopped testing me as much, and seem to be accepting that they are stuck with me as their teacher.  Most of the kids that I have in my classes are wonderful and lots just need a lot of support and modeling to understand and do the assigned tasks.  After my first day "All about Me" speech, I've had kids come up to me to show me pictures of their guinea pigs, and tell me all about their pets.  They laugh at me when I pronounce 50 Cent as FiddyCent (because it's weird to have a teacher call him that), and when I can name the artist they are listening to on their iPod during work time.  They've also opened up to me in more ways than I could have ever imagined; allowing me to learn about their families, pregnancies, past issues, friends drama, and why they're at the alternative school.

Overall, I've met some wonderful people over the course of the last week, and I'm hoping that I can one day call this school my permanent workplace.