The last day before the first day
This is one of the high school courtyards.
Soon it will be filled with 400 students in blue uniforms.
Today there were no meetings or trainings. The staffs, “new foreign hires,” the “returning hires” and the “local hires,” were given the day to prepare our classrooms and materials for the first day of school.
Preparing the classroom was easy…wait, what? This sort of ambiguous task is not supposed to be easy for new teachers. After I rearranged the desks (out of standard rows and into the somewhat standard U shape), I looked around for other things to do. It didn’t take me long to remember that I had never had a classroom before and realize that I didn’t travel with any inspirational posters or colorful books. Some of my colleagues had a similar experience, and they stopped in to ask “now what?”
Rob, a colleague from Wisconsin, would remind us to ask more than “now what?” He would encourage us to ask “what do we need to know in order to do what needs to be done?” We didn’t get that far. The air conditioning started to drip, pour. So I took some time to practice Spanish with the maintenance crew. And we know that the students and teachers constitute a classroom, not posters and books.
The process of preparing materials has/had a familiar kind of ease. The first day of school should be very interesting without a handbook of school policies or class lists.
The only information I have about the student body has come from teachers returning to the chaos of school after their relaxing summers on the beach. Even though I don’t believe that all students will “be spoiled rotten,” will “steal tests,” will “hack my computer to change their grades,” will “refuse to speak English in English class”…this is all I have. I also have some advice on how to be “more credible” : dye my hair black. I’m not sure what to do with that.
Please Note: Sharing minor annoyances in the form of generalizations that begin with “All of our students (insert negative character trait or extreme one-time occurrence here)…” and end with “…and there is nothing we can to do change it. That’s how it has always been.” is distracting and scary for this new teacher. I think you are trying to be helpful. I appreciate that. I just wish you would also tell me why you are sharing these fascinating tips. Now that I know some things that might be true for some students, what should I do?
August 17th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Every year I hear stories about what the upcoming ninth graders are like, sometimes praises, sometimes warnings. Either way, I tend to ignore what is said about them. I prefer to get to know my students as individuals and judge them based on their behavior with me. That is all I can really do. Who among us would like to be judged by our associations with those proximity deems to be our social group? Associations we choose may be different.
Even so, overgeneralization is a logical fallacy. As teachers, we have to ignore the stories about our students. Otherwise, we act out of prejudice and will most likely contribute to self-fulling prophecies.
The other thing that always bugs me about these warnings about groups of students is that they’re an affliction of the institutional nature of school. They assume students are hoards, not individuals. They assume negative over positive (generally). And they really rob us (as educators) of our unique opportunity to connect in the most important way with other human beings who want to trust us.
I have no doubt that the tabula rasa of your classroom will flourish with ideas, and despite the very blondness of your hair, your students will respect your open and honest communication with them.
PS
About the hair, remember what Thoreau warned about any employment requiring new clothes. New hair seems to fit just as well. You can only be who you are.
August 17th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
PS Again
That courtyard looks like paradise!!
August 23rd, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Just read about you on Ms. Dawn’s blog..and already I think you are great!
I teach English 11 and Pre-AP English 10 (and other classes as well!) in Arkansas and would be glad to share, to read, and digitally pat you on the back anytime! (Going to add you to my reader.)
Good luck as you begin making memories that will last a lifetime!
August 27th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Students are people.
I will admit that it was difficult for me to distinguish between feelings of excitement, intimidation and insecurity on the first day. Even though I tried to block out all of the generalizations and warnings, I still felt like I was on my toes all day.
Now that I have had conversations with students, read their writing and realized some of their supposed maladies, I look forward to our exchanges.
They have already taught me a lot. I look forward to helping them on their way.