The morning began somewhat hectically. I wasn't sure what to expect at all and I was combination of excitement and nerves. I was so excited to meet the students but I was also concerned with what they would think of me and how I would perform. Luckily, I had nothing to worry about. The students are wonderful and I am so excited to be their (student) teacher this year!
Many of the students were walked in by their parents, most of whom left immediately after shaking the hands of myself and my mentor teacher as we greeted them at the door. A few stayed until almost 9:30 am though, which had me pretty concerned! We wanted to get the day started and for some of the students, having parents in the back of the room was very distracting! Eventually, the straggling parents started making their way out but it seemed like they had been there for entirely too long. I asked my mentor what she would have done if they hadn't left on their own and she said that if fifteen more minutes had gone by she would have politely asked them to leave. It's hard for me to imagine doing anything like that at this point, but I guess that's a skill I'm going to have to learn soon.
We spent a lot of time going over classroom procedures for coming into the room, completing and handing in work, changing classes, going to lunch, and how to leave for the day. The kids seemed a little overwhelmed by everything that was being said and I was too. I feel like the room is still really unorganized and I'm not sure how we are going to be able to function with it in this state. I'm also pretty concerned about how these students are going to handle switching classes. This is their first experience with departmentalization and I am not convinced that this is what is best for the students. Time will tell and I am hopeful that, with practice, things will run smoothly.