The first day school

It's never as bad as it is in my imagination. I did not oversleep. I did not wet my pants in front of the class. I did not get nauseous. I did not want to run away in horror.

At 9 a.m. sharp Mrs. P. and me blocked parents at the door and let our new students file into their classroom. Mrs. P. warned me about letting parents in the first day. She remembered years past when they would sit around the room, eat bagels and drink coffee while first day stuff was unraveling. Kids are nervous the first day and the experience should be theirs and theirs alone. So no parents.

I began my morning by introducing myself to each student, shaking hands and looking them directly in the eye. The first day, said Mrs. P., will be the easy day. Gee, then I can't wait for day two.

I know the names of all the students already- I thought this would take longer. It's amazing how much personality you can see in a kid after just a few hours. Adults are very guarded to show their true self and, in fact, kids become as guarded as puberty hits in sixth or seventh grade. Now they are very cute and enthusiastic and so willing to please. Hands shoot up to answer every question. Only two students seemed bothered when asked to describe their "I" collage in front of the class. Without prompt, the class applauded each speaker. It was touching. I wonder how long and to what extent they will continue to support one another.

I ended the day by reading from Jack Prelutsky (poetry a la Shel Silverstein) and encouraging the class to shout out the final rhyming word. Prelutsky's work has a great rhyming beat. I asked the students to tap a beat on their desks and I tried to keep pace as I read. Slower then faster then slower again.

Matthew, who is already labeled as a potential problem because of his lack of motivation and poor direction following skills, and I talked quickly about a few of Prelutsky's poems that are shaped like triangles and circles. He seemed very interested, engaged me with direct eye contact and still wanted to know why some of the lines didn't rhyme- even as school ended and all his classmates were walking out the door.

Matthew and Ben, who was reading a sci-fi book well above 4th-grade reading level, will need extra attention. Ben asked me about prehistoric sharks (megalodon) for a comic he is drawing during quiet time in class. I just did a quick Wikipedia search and wrote down several facts about the ancient sharks. I'm going to hand him the paper tomorrow and see what happens.