Whew, I made it through the first week.

Well things have been going well. My friend Nick reminded me tonight that I haven't put a second post on here so I guess I'd better do a little more updating. Today marked a week since the first day of school. I think that things are going pretty well so far. I am starting to feel like I am getting settled in. I still don't know all of my student's names. It is by far the thing that I struggle with most as a teacher. You'd think I'd get better at it because I do it so often but I think I'm getting worse. Everyday I think that I have it and then they walk out the door and their name's leave with them. It is like I am re-learning about 175 names every day. Believe it or not, I think that it is harder than it sounds.

I think that I have had my first victory. Last week my 5th period class was a little out of control. They are the only class that have lost the privilege of choosing their own seating chart. On the third day of class I put them where I wanted them to be. Even with the new seating they still NEVER stopped talking. Well, Friday I decided I was tired of it so at the end of the period I had them pack all of their stuff up about 5 minutes before the bell so we could have a discussion about how class was going and how things were going to change. My goal was basically to instill (is that the right word?) the fear into them. I am against yelling at students. I don't think that it helps and I think that it teaches them that to get what they want they have to be mean. I just told them that how things had been going so far was completely unacceptable and if they didn't realize that they needed to be more respectful of me, their peers, and themselves then I would have to change the way that class was run. If they wanted time to work on assignments in class they would need to actually work and stay on task otherwise I would just teach the whole time and they would have loads of homework everyday. So what happened this week? Well, I am happy to report that yesterday and today they were one of my best classes! I don't think that it was only because of our talk though. I think that it is because this week we are actually in the book and have a routine going and they know what is expected and they are a little more settled into the school mentality. But still, I feel pretty good that I didn't have to do anything more than just tell them that what was happening needed to change and it happened.

So overall things are going well. I don't feel as lost as I was feeling last week. I am starting to figure out more about how the school is run and how to do all of the teacher things I have to do other than actually teaching my students. I think that I might even start having fun at work soon! I just wish I could remember their names!