Thursday, August 27, 2009

"Are we going to actually learn anything today?"

It's official: I am back at school again. The first official day of school was yesterday, although I met some of the students and parents on Monday at "Back to School" night and all of them Tuesday during 7th grade orientation. It's been a busy week trying to get everything set up, planning lessons, cleaning, organizing, making copies, meeting with colleagues, etc. I forget how much energy teaching takes. I have taken a nap almost every day this week! I'm sure I'll get used to it again, but it's hard to get back in the habit.

I'm really excited about my classes this year, and I don't see any major behavior issues yet, which is a good sign. It is interesting, however, to see the difference between my honors and regular students. During orientation, one of my honors students asked, "Are we actually going to learn anything today?" Bless his heart, I thought to myself, only an honors student would be concerned about the level of academic rigor on the first day of school. My actual reply was, "Yes, you're going to learn today, it just won't relate directly to English curriculum. You'll learn all about how to survive the first week of middle school." That seemed to satisfy him, at least temporarily. I guess I better gear up and get some killer lessons ready, though. These kids are ready to learn! Now, if I could only learn their names!

Here's my inspirational quote for the day:
"Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire." ~William Butler Yeats

2 comments:

Jeff said...

I really liked that end quote. I think I've always had a fire for learning. Sometimes school was a frustration because I loved learning but hated busy work. It's good to hear that you have a focus on learning, even on the very first day. :)

Robyn said...

I am having a difficult time getting back into the swing of things too. I have quite a few interesting situations which never makes life easy. Well, I am just trying to do my best and keep a positive attitude (or I might not survive).