It's Over, It's Really Over

After two long weeks back at work, I am ready for summer again! In the words of my darling daughter, "I want summer back!" I agree, wholeheartedly. The first week, when we were going to bed on Monday night. I told her that we were going to have to wake up early again the next day and every day after that for a long time. She responded, "Oh, that's going to be a problem."
We had a very good first couple days back in the routine. Cory was gone on a fishing trip, so it was "just the girls" again, but they did pretty good. Kacy struggled with her naps at daycare, so she was really tired in the evenings. After having to peel her off my neck the first couple of days, Adilyn got back into the swing of things. She liked playing with her friends again, and she loved showing me her drawings each day.

The girls love being silly at dinner time. Adilyn always loves to love Kacy while we are eating. The time between me making dinner, and us sitting down to eat is always my most stressful time! Everyone is hungry, everyone is tired, and everyone is grumpy (even me!) So, once we finally get to sit down, it's nice to watch the girls be goofy together!

Now, the real problems came when school actually started...Oh my, I didn't know what I was getting myself into with this new job. I have been teaching at Beck JH for the last 8 years. I knew everyone there, knew the curriculum, knew how much of a slacker I could be, and everything else that I needed to know to be comfortable. The problem was that I was tired of coaching, and I was tired of the same old, same old. Most of my friends have left the school for different reasons, but I didn't really have anything holding me there. I applied for a transfer, and interviewed for a couple positions. I was offered a jr. high 6th language arts position, a 9th grade English position, and finally an elementary health/PE teacher. After much thought and stress, I decided to go with the elementary position. It seemed like an interesting job - I would teach health topics to kindergarteners to 5th graders Monday through Thursday, then I would teach PE with the other teacher on Fridays.

I got the textbooks, objectives, and some of the information that the old teacher used. As I looked through the objectives, I started to get excited. Teaching about handwashing, fire safety, making friends, and learning good character sounded pretty fun. I thought a little bit about the reality of teaching these tiny kids, but I kind of shoved my anxiety to the back of my mind. As the first day of school inched closer, I realized that I had NO idea how in the world I would teach a 5 year old anything! I talked to a couple kinder teachers about a lesson I had planned, and she said, as sweetly as she could, "Uh, yeah, that's never gonna work." Yikes! So, I got some advice from her, and I realized that I was just going to have to go for it, and hope for the best.

The first day of school...

We start the day with 3rd then 4th graders. Everything was going great, I was feeling confident. Anxiety began to subside...then in walks 26 tiny, little 1st graders...oh man, these little creatures turned my world upside down! Within the first few minutes, a girl gets out of her seat and pulls on my shirt. She says, "I want to sing my favorite song for you."Um, I was right in the middle of talking about our rules and procedures, what? Then I told them that they need to wear tennis shoes for health class. About 30 seconds after I say that, about 15 of them started telling me about their new school shoes, and they were showing them to me. Wow! This was not going well! I had NO control.Nobody would listen to me, they were squirmy and wiggly, and I couldn't even focus on what I was doing. I swear it was the longest 50 minutes of my life! I survived, but barely...then I realized that I had exactly 40 minutes before I had a huge group of kindergarteners coming my way. Oh crap! I knew that they were going to be way worse. I didn't know what to do, so I figured I would just wing it and hold on tight! Luckily, when they walked in, there was a helping teacher in with us to help a special needs kids. Actually, when I saw her I was relieved, but also nervous because I didn't want her to know how completely terrified of them I was. She helped me with the kids that were falling out of their chairs because they were too small to sit in them. She also helped me try to get the kids to sit still as much as possible. One kid wrote on another kid with a pencil, the kid that got written on cried. Another boy cried because he missed his mommy, and I got into a tug a war with a little girl who wouldn't give me her name card. Holy crap, what have I done?!?!?! I was texting Cory and antoher friend about how horrible everything was going. I think they thought I was kidding...I wasn't laughing!

I went home that first day, and I really never wanted to go back, ever! It was the worst first day of school that I have ever had. I never in a million years could have imagined how difficult those kids would be to control. They are not scared of teachers at all. Many of the kindergarteners have no idea how to wait their turn, listen to the teacher, or even sit still!

Each day got a little better, and I have realized that I really can't talk to the little ones for more than 5 minutes at a time. I also realized that I need to be mean to them, and I need to get in their faces at times. I have seen many of the teachers get very firm with them, so even though that has never really been my style, it's what I need to do.

It was a week of total ups and downs, but today when I was in the gym playing games with them all day long, and it was so much fun! I just need to figure out what works with each group the best...I hope that I can figure it out sooner rather than later!