Confessions of a First Year Teacher

As I drove to my school on the first day of the year I was terrified, excited, emotional, apprehensive, and filled with an equal mix of self doubt along with self confidence. This was the moment I had spent years dreaming about. The moment I had been preparing for since I was 5 or 6 when I lined my dolls and stuffed animals up to give them a spelling test or to teach them numbers on my chalk board.

During my drive I wondered if my Grandma and Grandpa would be proud of me. The answer was whispered inside my head, an unequivocal YES! I then tried to remember all of the knowledge and advice my favorite professors had instilled in me throughout my education. I will admit it was all a little overwhelming. 

Once the parents left and 21 sets of little eyes were focused on me it was a magical moment. I had finally arrived, there was no more "working towards the goal". I am their teacher and this is my classroom where I am responsible for the education of these precious little beings staring back at me shyly. My nervousness slowly dissipated and I embraced my inner teacher. 

The first week of the school year was spent teaching CHAMPS procedures, CHAMPS behavior expectations, rules etc. After going over the initial discussion of what a CHAMP looks like I started to mix in math instruction with procedures while I modeled proper behaviors & we practiced our CHAMPS behaviors. Most of what I taught was a review of concepts taught in Kindergarten. This helped me get a sense of which kids were ready for more, which needed a little re-teaching and which needed more help with the basics. 

When I put my last kiddo in their parent's car on Friday I was beyond exhausted but I felt like the week had been successful, as long as you don't consider all the mistakes I made recording my attendance. Out of the 5 days I managed to do my attendance correctly 1 time. I think I made every mistake possible. On the positive side, I only made each mistake once. The poor secretary probably thought I was so dumb. My only excuse is I was already overwhelmed with trying to remember 65-70 student names, getting those said students to and from lunch/recess/library/music/gym and then making sure I don't send students to the wrong place at dismissal. 

I can't wait for week 2!!