The first week is in the books

As I promised before, I will try to update this site more often. So here I am, one week later putting out another post. I do not have any pictures to add, so I will try to keep it short.

First: my first masters’ class is officially over. It was one of those deals where I did not have to turn in the final project to pass the course. I did turn it in and am expecting a 4.0 for the course. My next class starts on September 2nd. This one will actually be very useful. It is titled: Engagement Strategies and Classroom Management. These two things are the bread and butter of teaching middle school, so I am excited about the course.

Next: we are done with our first week of school (the kids did not start till Thursday). My classes are very interesting. I was told on Wednesday that I would be teaching an additional section of science, but my class would be all students that have native languages other than English. It was a bit of a surprise, but I knew most of the kids from last year and that makes the whole thing much easier.

I had been warned again and again that the eighth graders at our school were a terrible bunch. I was prepared to have issues from the first day. But teaching 13 rich kids is much easier than teaching a class of 30 students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Plus, I am very good at picking out the problem kids ( I once was one ) and squashing them as soon as possible.

My room has already gotten comments from students and teachers who remembered it from last year. The best compliment I received was that the room “looks like a real science classroom.” The kids I have are an interesting bunch. None of them have actually performed or designed an experiment. So I am sort of “in the weeds,” and starting from ground zero. So on Friday, I had the kids carry out an experiment. I love teaching science…

Cassie’s week has been a struggle. Her classroom was supposed to be built over the summer. However, in Ukraine, summer is the time everyone takes their vacation. Thus Cassie was not able to get into her room till Wednesday afternoon. At that point in time, there was insulation everywhere, no power, and no desks. These problems were not worked out till the afternoon of our second day of school. She has been a ball of stress…

I will update again very soon. Hope all is well with all of you out there…