SMS= my second middle school (the new school)
FMS = my first middle school (aka the prison)
The First Day of School
The night before the first Monday, I was in a “blah” mood. I thought for sure I would be excited or antsy or something, but I was not. I went to bed a little too late and woke up the next day in the same mood. “Well…here goes!” On my drive to work, I blasted some of my favorites tunes to get me a bit more excited about the first day of school! I mean, I was driving to SMS not FMS!!! That in itself is a good enough reason to cut a backflip or two. LoL.
About 15 minutes into my drive, I could feel the excitement coming on. Though, so many questions were running through my head: Will I rock the first day like I did at FMS? What will the teachers think of me? Will I truly be accepted? (The teacher I replaced was an all-time favorite of the teachers and students.) Will the students be the same as the students at FMS? Will I have troublemakers testing me the first day? How will my Whole Brain Teaching work in an environment with no ceilings (literally)? Will the other teachers complain about my noise? Will I have to let go of WBT and basically my teaching style because we don’t have ceilings? Will my feet start to hurt in my shoes? (At FMS, I wore tennis shoes every, single day.)Will there be a fight on day one? Will my occasional “Memphis Heat” discipline style come off too strong and not be accepted by the students and faculty? Will I even need to show that side of me? Will I be able to leave the old Miss Nesbitt at FMS and fully embrace SMS, while using this as an opportunity to unlearn ALL the horrible habits and management “techniques” I picked up at FMS? Will I have the energy to last 6 classes instead of the 3 I had at FMS?
Before I knew it, I was pulling into the school- hella early!!! (This is also a big deal for me.) :P I went to my duty post and riiiiiiiinnnnnnnngggggg! School began!
In addition to the typical first day agenda, we were instructed by our principal to teach “character education” for the entire first week. He’d recently attended a conference on Quantum Learning, and came back thrilled about incorporating strategies learned at the conference at SMS. One main topic being “The Cognitive Imperative” which focused on “THE Line.” The Line is the threshold of a level of responsibility. Living “above the line” or “below the line” is a personal choice, thus giving the power and freedom back to the individual. The individual is taking control of choice and subsequently, taking control of results. It was a great lesson in positive self-discipline, for the students and staff. By 6th period, the students knew all about “the line” and were aimming to live "above it"- make smarter choices, come to school prepared, show respect to teachers and peers, etc. Over the course of the week, it was really interesting to watch the transition from typical, middle-school behavior to a sense of respect and responsibility. IT WAS GREAT!
At the end of the day, I felt amazing! My students were great, the noise wasn’t too bad, my WBT worked well, and my colleagues were so helpful with anything I needed. Several times throughout the day, someone stopped by to “check on me,” give a little ‘first day of school’ advice, and see if I had everything under control. (I think they all think this is my first year of teaching.)
I am so thankful to be where I am.
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