The first day of the rest of my career....

My alarm went off at 4:45. And even though I gave myself enough time to get ready, and had gotten to school EVERY day exactly when I wanted... I couldn't manage today. I got to school almost 15 minutes after I had planned, which would've been fine had today not been the first day of school. MY first day of school.
First period: Chaos. They modified the schedule so advisory was with their advisors for a full hour. I finally got confirmation about my group THIS morning: 22 seniors. Of course, a room full of freshmen is not so bad, but a room full of seniors -- no exceptions -- is pretty intimidating as my first class ever. We had a crapload of stuff to hand out (parking permits, free/reduced lunch apps, schedules, planners, etc etc etc) in about 10 minutes before my kids had to go to their senior meeting. Their first impression of me? "who the !@%! is this crazy chick running around?" There was no intro, no nothing, because it was all SO EFFIN LAST MINUTE. This is the reason why I like planning!!!!!! Oh well.. it's all in a day's work (that's how it goes, yes?)
Spanish 1 kids seem great. I mean, I am saying that now, right? I particularly enjoyed 3rd hour. That's the whole thing with teachers - we start making up our favorites pretty quickly. But that's the one period where when they walked out I sighed and smiled; I just had a good feeling about them, Batman!
Spanish 2 kids, that's another story. Given the horror anecdotes I have heard from one of the Spanish 2 teachers from last year, I am terrified to see how much they DON'T know. My seventh hour straight up told me they should just use the Spanish 1 book, because they did so little in class. Intense. We shall see. Anyway, another huge issue with them is the fact that those are my two BIGGEST classes. 32 sixth period, 35 seventh period. Can I say crowded? I thanked the Lord about the size of my room once I saw 35 kids staring at me. Had I been at CSH, I would've had a panic attack.
A couple of cool things that happened today:
--I found out I have a blind student. You might be thinking I am a douche for saying that's cool, but the fact that it's my first year and I get the privilege of having this kid teach me HOW I can be better is simply fabulous. I know it will be extra work, and I know it will be stressful at times, but I also know I will learn and grow a lot from having her in my class.
--I wore heels all day and DID NOT fall.
--I didn't go over my Weight Watchers points... too much :)

A couple of awful things that happened today:
--I wore heels. WHAT THE FUCK WAS I THINKING? (pardon the french) My feet are swollen, and blistered. Too much information? I don't care, cause they hurt and I need the world to hear.
--I asked all my classes how they felt about Spanish. During my last period I had a student be very confident about the fact that she did not like the language, so I asked: "Hey! how come you don't like it?" Her answer was as follows:

"Well, I feel like it is stupid to teach Spanish. I think everyone who comes from ''those countries below'' need to come to the States and learn OUR language, since this isn't their country anyway..."

Now tell me, as a normal human being in the year 2009, WHAT do you respond? How do you tell the student that her thinking is inappropriate, and maybe even offensive to someone IN her classroom... FILTER ANYONE? Needless to say, I am thoroughly thrilled to meet her parents. I want to see what they are like. I continued saying "Well I guess it's more of a political reason then...Can you tell me WHY you are in Spanish class?"

"Because that way when ""they"" talk to me, I can try to understand what they want. That is, until they figure out it is English ""they"" need to start speaking...."

Shoot me now.

I sent out a Parent Homework assignment today. It is called "In a Million words or less..." and it is pretty much a way for me to a) start conversation with parents b) find out more about my students THROUGH the parents c) learn a bit more about the student's family life, without having to be nosy about it. I took the idea from Amanda, so all credit goes to her. Anyway, I received my very first parent email from a mom who lives out of state asking about the assignment, and then the email right after that one was from a Dad writing about his Son... here's a small excerpt:

I love him beyond measure and want him to do his best in school. Be good to John but be tough on him. I don’t want him to coast through his studies. I’m convinced he can be as good a student as he is a sportsman.

Now if only ALL the parents I have this year were a) this deep b) this diligent c) this honest d) this specific... his letter was a page long, and talked about everything from family, to the fact that his son might have a different beard style every week. I had tears in my eyes by the time I was done reading it... and this is just ONE of the many I will receive. I can't wait!

xoxo,

Miss Bee, the teacher that WILL NOT be wearing heels tomorrow...