First Day of Year Two

It was a welcome relief to start this year knowing almost all of my students' names.  I didn't even take an official roll call out loud because I had a seating chart and knew who the students were.  I love teaching the same group of students for a second year, we are able to start off the year knowing each others' expectations and quirks.  I only have two new students in the 10th grade.  I really do like those kids.

My seniors will present a greater challenge, as I knew they would.  There are some boys who are going to push the line.  I lost count of the number of times I said, "you are seniors, we should not be having this conversation."  I'm sure part of it  is just a testing of me.  And they are so impatient!  I literally had a student wanting to ask a dozen question, all of which were going to be answered as we went through the syllabus.

Overall it was a good day, so glad I get to end my day with the 10th grade.  I could so stay here because of the kids; some of those 10th grade girls are really dear to my heart.  The challenge to staying here is dealing with the culture and the administration of our school.  While I like my principal, I'm still waiting to see how our new overall leadership is going to work.  Yay for year two!

And on another positive note, everyone I talked to had a great first day.  One new teacher told me, "you guys warned us so much with your stories from last year, I think we were prepared."