~*~
I'll admit it - I am a school-junkie. I am a teacher after all. There is a reason that I chose this profession. My fascination with schools started in kindergarten - I loved erasing the chalkboard. My fascination with all things school has continued for the past 26 years (I still love erasing chalkboards).
I joke that I will never stop going to school. My husband thinks that this is an expensive habit.
The first day of school is always an exciting time of year for me. The first day . . .the opportunities . . .the chances for failure . . .it is all waiting on the other side. Most women love splurging on fancy shoes or clothes. Me? I get dizzy when I walk into an OfficeMax. Shopping for school supplies gets me so excited. I used to love coming home and looking at the empty pages in my notebooks and wondering about all the ideas and information that would fill up those pages in a few short months. I loved the smell of new textbooks or looking at the list of names on the inside cover of the people that had the book before me. It was a club - a small group of people that had shared in the experience of possessing Biology textbook 7877383 for one year. I would think about what I was going to wear for a week. What kind of impression did I want to make? It was the first day! You can't take back first impressions. I still remember what I wore on the first day of freshman year. I wore a cotton salwar chameez (a traditional Indian outfit) to school. That made an impression.
As a teacher, I still get excited about the first day. I spent all of last week in my classroom: putting things away, cleaning up the dust, thinking about the students that would soon fill those empty seats. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know some of you through the summer assignments. But putting a face to the name - that's exciting. I still get butterflies in my stomach every time one period ends and another new group of students walk into my classroom. It's those same opportunities, the same desire to make a good impression, as I had when I was on the other side of the desk. "Will my students trust me?" "Will they think I am fair?" "Will I be judgmental with my students?" "How can I give them the respect they deserve?" "Will they do their homework?" "How will I get the respect I deserve?" "How can I make this a rich learning experience?" "What do I wear???"
In seven days, I will know all of your names and faces. The first week of school will be over and we will hit our stride and break into our routines of "school-dom". But until then, I am going to just relish these moments of anticipation, chance, and hope.
your students are lucky to have you!
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