Survival of the fittest..

Well I'm halfway into week 2 and up till this point I've been in total survival mode. Last week was insane. I don't really have any other word to describe it. Aside from the fact that it was my first week being 100% completely in charge of my own classroom and having to deal with all of the administrative stuff of week 1 (stuff they do NOT teach you how to handle in school by the way), my class sizes were at about 45 last week. Now I don't know if that means anything to you but the typical class size of an elementary school is 24 tops. So picture 45 of the hook 9th graders infiltrating your classroom. I was told to prepare for 35 so that is how many desk spaces I had. This means I had kids sitting in any extra chairs I could find, on my stool, in my desk chair and even some sitting on the back counter. It was crazy. My body, mind, and motivation all reached a level of exhaustion I didn't even know was possible... BUT... I made it. And this Monday morning the guidance office, for the most part, had everything work out. Unfortunately a few awesome teachers were surplussed but they finally got the numbers balanced and I have somewhat normal class sizes (still too big for a science class if you ask any science teacher but, hey, what can ya do).

I also started this week with a positive attitude and as a clean slate with my classes. I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of it and am actually starting to enjoy myself. I'm slowly but surely forming bonds with these new students and I'm excited about getting to know them better. Last week when things were so crazy and the stress was getting to me I had a 9th grade English teacher come tell me that all her students were talking about how they liked being in my class and they're glad they have me. The next morning I randomly got a text message from a former student I had at MHS and she said "Hey Ms. B., just wanted to let you know we all miss you SOOO much here!" Those two things gave me the encouragement I needed to keep going and the hope that I will be able to form relationships with my new kids like the ones I had with my kids last semester. And already it's starting to happen. We've always been told you're not supposed to have favorites but I think you can talk to any teacher in the world and they definitely do. I'm starting to really enjoy some of my kids (some, of course, are still knuckle-heads) and look forward to the rest of the year with them. Today was the first day since school started that I left feeling like I had a somewhat normal day and thinking to myself, "I really do love my job." I'm grateful to be able to say that. I put in a 12.5 hour day today and yet it was the best I've had yet. I'm excited because I'm helping out with volleyball this season and our girls had their first home game today. They played great and won both sets. Overall it was a good day and I'm excited for many more to come!