Adventures in Teaching

Today marks my first full week of teaching in an honest-to-goodness, paid teaching job. Thursday was my first day on my own (I was transitioning the long-term sub out) and it was...rough. It's an inner-city school and they may be 7th graders, but they are tough kids. My first day I sent three kids to the office and one of them ended up getting suspended. There is a lot of posturing and pushing the boundaries. Their previous teacher had a personal crisis come up and left, then they had various subs come in and out before they got a long term sub that worked. And here I come, less than 30 days of school left and I want them to work!? The horror! Needless to say, it's been a bit rocky. But it ended on a pretty good note. One of the toughest students actually apologized to me at the end of the day on Friday.

This is by far the most difficult thing I have ever taken on. Yet, they're already becoming my students. They're loud-mouth brats sometimes, but they're just kids. Most of them just want someone to listen to them and care about them.

Today in advisory the student that was suspended asked if he could talk to me. In my head I was like...great, what now? But he actually just wanted to ask if he could be my TA (teacher assistant). I'm not entirely sure he isn't just setting me up for something but we'll see. All in all, it's been a difficult week but I'm happy where I am. They definitely don't give an inch, that's for sure. But then again...I won't either.