The First Day of School

It’s the first day of school! And ultimately my 9th year of teaching, and technically 28th grade if we’re going by all the years I’ve been in school.

A couple of thoughts about this year so far:

It’s going to be an interesting experience doing special education. All the paperwork, and hidden surprises that come with doing IEPS will continue to probably cause me stress all throughout the course of the year. I was hopeful for a little bit more guidance, but it’s clear everyone is overworked at this point.

My co-teacher is graceful enough to let me lead some of the lessons, which I did today. I like having a new batch of students for the most part, so it’s a little unfortunate I have some repeat students this year. It can be a good thing because I don’t have to learn as many names. I have some very good kids again. The only downside is some of the more troublesome students feel “more comfortable”, and subsequently act up. I’m hopeful that things will turn around, and I will continue to give out “Pokemon points”. I just finished texting and emailing all parents all generic messages about how good their son/daughter are. They are grateful in the end.

My SDC classes went well, so I’m hopeful that will remain a smooth detour from general education teaching.

Here’s hoping for a fantastic school year. It’s unfortunate so many of my friends have disappeared, but I’m grateful to still have at least two.