Everyone has a first day at something

First day tomorrow. Kids walk through the doors, and we're starting the marathon of learning. Lots to get through, in particular starting to build community, establish expectations, and learn names! I can't say I'm not nervous. I wonder whether I'm on the right track, whether what I want to do is paced to last (or whether I'll need to add/subtract things... or bump to the next day), and whether everything will go off without a hitch. Hitches will happen, as they always tend to. Nerves are appropriate as well. I think it shows that I care about what I do. I want to do well for myself, and for my kiddos.

Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck

My space finally looks like home. I have a Welcome sign that I made out of construction paper. I have a number line up on the wall. I've also got a map of the US and a map of the world up on the wall. The walls have some character, and the remainder of the wall space (and there is quite a bit) will be filled by student work.

My activeboard is up and running too. All in all, things are coming along. Tomorrow is my day to get a schedule together, actually committing some of the items I've got in scattered note pages into a matrix/table. It is coming along.

Wrapping my brain around it

I'm five days away from day one with kiddos. We had our Meet and Greet today, and it was great to finally see some kiddos, and get a chance to interact with them and their families. Since I am working with two other teachers, and we are teaming together, I got a chance to see many of the families on our team. It was fantastic, and made me really excited to get started. Additionally, the experience brought home who I am doing all of this for: the kiddos!

Now the room isn't complete yet. I feel like it feels a bit empty. I have cleaned out the excess furniture, and have desks that are in table groupings. I have books on shelves, and have my teacher library setup (which makes it look far more professional, and a little less empty). Beyond that I don't have much. No sayings, no posters, not much of anything. I need to think a bit about that, and think about what I want to put up that is intentional while also adding my own spin. I want to help create a culture of learning and high expectations, while also bringing out some of my personality (for example I've thought of bringing in my race numbers from the Boston, NYC, and Chicago marathons as I'm very proud of them and they are a significant achievement).

Even more, I need to get my first week put together. Thankfully the new teacher program has a checklist of things to think about pre-1st day... things like bathroom pass, homework recording system et al. They are little things that help keep things organized, and give you a heads up before you get there and are in the midst. Alas...

Last note... got my activeboard setup, at least partially. When I was nearly all the way done, which it isn't, I came to the windows login. It was the user "Gort" which blew me away... Who is Gort?! And why can't I login? They'll be in, it'll be fixed. Bring it on.

Are we there yet?

No, not quite yet. But we are getting there. I moved all of the miscellaneous furniture out of the room- a few long tables, a few square tables, a circle table from the roman era, and study desks that belong in a 1970's college library. In addition, I received some desks that I have put into table groups. As much as I looooove tables, the predominant culture seems to be that desks are the way. I will use the desks, but be creative in how I arrange kiddos and how I group them.

I also moved some of the computers I have in the room. There were a bank of computers facing each other, and I moved them to the outer walls. The result is that I can see what kiddos are doing, and I have a clear space in the "front" of the room to teach from when needed (or have kids come up, etc etc). I'll confess to being giddy about my computer situation. I am at a near 1:1 ratio. I've got 15 computers to 20-24 kids, so I will need to come up with a rotation for who buddies up (when that time comes).

Now that my space feels better, I can start to turn my attention to a few other issues. I need to think about my walls and the culture that I want students to walk into (ie what do students think when they walk into the room, what do my walls and setup say to students, what appears valued?). I need to start thinking about what my first week is going to look like- what are we going to do, how are we going to build community etc..

Less Waiting, More Doing

I was placed yesterday. I'll be teaching 5th grade, and couldn't be more excited. While I student taught in a 1st-2nd split, I have experience with all grade levels and quite a bit with the 4th and 5th graders. Experience doesn't necessarily translate into teaching ability, but I believe I'll be successful. What I don't know, I'll need to pick up. But I also need to be confident that what I was able to do while student teaching, not to mention what I learned in college courses, will serve me well going forward (i.e. don't turn your back on that experience).

SPACE
The only oddity is the space I'll be teaching in. It was a shared space between two 5th grade classrooms. Now it will be used as my classroom, which is fine by me. To get to the space you can take one of three routes... 1&2) through either classroom, as each have a door into the space, or 3) via the door to the outside.

(Note: image not to scale, and based on short stay in the room) It is a relatively large space, although not as large as classrooms built in the 60's or 70's (like my wife's, which is giant). The classroom has high ceilings, which seemed to echo, but we'll have to see how that works. Currently there are 5-10 computers in the space, which I hope I get to keep. There is a ton of other stuff in there, but I'll start cleaning it up Monday. As far as getting in... well I need to go through the 2 other classrooms, or outside. The kids will line-up outside, so that works great, but we'll see from there. I'm definitely psyched to be right next to the other two 5th grade classrooms. Rotating kids should be easy (rotating kids you say... read on).

WHO/WHAT
The cohort of 5th graders is 60-64 kids. I heard 62 and then 64, so we'll say 60-64 for good measure. They were able to get another 5th grade teacher (me) because of the size, which means class size of 20-22ish. Hoooray! Additionally the teachers team, and have (or are open to) rotating kids. That would essentially create content area specialists, which I'm excited about. Instead of teaching a lesson once, you teach it multiple times, and have the ability to make adjustments each time (and hopefully improve your practice!). I'm not sure how this will work, or what content area, but I should know early in the week.

As a whole I am psyched. Kids are kids are kids, some just different sizes (and further along cognitively). I'll post more next week once I know more about the nuts of bolts. Until then...