It's September 2008 and Mary Anne's first day as a full-fledged teacher.
Enjoy!
MARY ANNE:
I slowly sat at my desk that warm September morning on my first day as a
full-fledged teacher. I'd be teaching eighth-grade English at PS 127. I
felt a little odd sitting at that huge desk by myself since it was still
early, so I leafed through the teacher's handbook. I also was nervous. As
I read, I became vaguely aware that the din in the halls grew louder and
knew the students had arrived. I went over and opened the door to the
classroom. My classroom. Wow. As I peered into the hall and saw the
sixth, seventh, and eighth-graders milling around, picking up locker and
homeroom assignments, I thought about Stoneybrook Middle School back in the
old town and wondered how the kids there were faring since it was their
first day back too. Thinking of Stoneybrook Middle reminded me of my
friends and I smiled softly as I went back to my desk, remembering the two
wonderful weddings...Kristy and Carl's, then Claudia and Tom's. It was
just a few weeks ago that I also moved into my apartment and there were
still some things that needed unpacking. Just then the first bell rang and
kids started to trickle in, jabbering about the summer and friends,
crushes, and other typical middle-school conversations. I wrote *Ms. Mary
Anne Spier* on the board. Five minutes later, the second bell rang and the
rest of the kids came pouring in with a noisy rush and scrambled to find
seats. I smiled softly at them and closed the door. I waited a few
minutes to let the talking naturally die down. I counted on their
curiosity about a new teacher and sure enough, they quieted down a minute
later as curiosity got the better of them since to them, I was a new
teacher in their school. I hoped my nervousness didn't show.
"Good morning, class," I introduced myself after clearing my throat. "I'm
Mary...Ms. Spier and I'm your homeroom teacher for this year. I'm glad to
have each of you as my students."
"G' moring..." H'llo..." Hiii..." "Mornun..." were some of the greetings.
"As a way of taking attendance this morning, why don't each of you go
around and say your name and tell us a little something about yourself..."
I pointed to a girl in the first row. Homeroom went smoothly for the most
part with no major disasters. If you count dropping a pile of chalk on the
floor minor. Once the bell rang, I thought, made it through one stage.
Next would be the English classes. The next few periods, I introduced
myself, then would have the students give their names and something that
interested them. Then the second half of each period, I would tell the
students in summary what we'd be covering during the year. I realized that
I'd have rushes of nervousness and clear my throat often. I tried to
control that, since I knew I sounded nervous. Some of the classes were a
bit rowdier than others, but they settled down enough for me to get
attendance and to talk. By the time lunch arrived, I was hungry, so I
headed straight to the lounge. Two other teachers were there and they
waved my over.
"How did you survive your first morning as a teacher?" Min Lerez asked as I
dug out my container of meatballs and put it into the microwave to heat up.
"All right," I told them as I sat. As we talked, I found out that Carol
Quynin had been here for five years and Min had been here for two.
"I was nervous when I first started too," Min told me. She was a few years
older than me and this was also her first teaching job. "The first day I
was here, one of my students put a fake huge spider in my desk and I
screamed so loudly I scared the class, then a lot of kids cracked up and I
was so mortified." Min took a sip of her soup.
"Oh, God," I dug into my meatballs. Carol grinned as she finished up her
salad, then headed back.
"Good luck," she called as she was leaving. Min and I ate and talked a
while more, than we had to head back to our afternoon classes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had just finished having the students introduce themselves when a boy,
Barry Ackle asked if he could use the bathroom. I nodded and waved him on,
so he went. I then started on what our program would be for the year. I
was handing out the outline when someone screamed. I turned to see Barry
stumble back into the room, blood running down the side of his face. I
stifled a scream myself.
"Oh, God!" I went over to him and I could hear students gasping and
murmuring behind me.
"Was he shot?" "Oh, shit..." "Where's the blood from?"
As I went over to try to find out from where he was bleeding, a little tube
fell from his shirt onto the floor and I looked down and realized that it
was *fake* blood. Some of the kids saw it and started to laugh. I let out
my breath in relief. Barry was grinning.
"Gotcha," he told me. I was shaking and a feeling of mortification at
being so duped came over me.
"Barry, go wash yourself off, then sit." I told him. He did, snickering
and rolling his eyes at me. Kids continued to laugh. I headed back to the
front and held up a hand for silence. To my embarrassment, my hand was
still shaking and to make matters worse, I swallowed involuntarily. Kids
continued to laugh and chatter on about the prank. I stood a minute, at a
loss of what to do.
"Class. Quiet now." I finally blurted out in a firm voice. That got their
attention and to my surprise, they quieted down to a few whispers. Barry
came back into class, gave me a smirk, then sat. I then continued with
going over what we'd study this year. At least my voice wasn't shaky.
Finally, the last bell rang and the kids booked out with a noisy jabber. I
let out my breath and slowly sat. I saw a girl lingering near my desk.
Sherry...Eikerson was her name, I think.
"Hey, Ms. Spier..." She stopped at my desk. "You did great. You handled
that prank well. Barry does at least one number on a teacher every first
day."
"Thanks." I was touched by her concern. So touched that after she left, I
closed the door to my classroom, sat at the desk and cried softly. As I
headed home later, I thought over the day and realized that it had been a
mix of bad and good. Despite my nervousness and some of the rowdier kids,
I found myself looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.
More later!
Enjoy!
MARY ANNE:
I slowly sat at my desk that warm September morning on my first day as a
full-fledged teacher. I'd be teaching eighth-grade English at PS 127. I
felt a little odd sitting at that huge desk by myself since it was still
early, so I leafed through the teacher's handbook. I also was nervous. As
I read, I became vaguely aware that the din in the halls grew louder and
knew the students had arrived. I went over and opened the door to the
classroom. My classroom. Wow. As I peered into the hall and saw the
sixth, seventh, and eighth-graders milling around, picking up locker and
homeroom assignments, I thought about Stoneybrook Middle School back in the
old town and wondered how the kids there were faring since it was their
first day back too. Thinking of Stoneybrook Middle reminded me of my
friends and I smiled softly as I went back to my desk, remembering the two
wonderful weddings...Kristy and Carl's, then Claudia and Tom's. It was
just a few weeks ago that I also moved into my apartment and there were
still some things that needed unpacking. Just then the first bell rang and
kids started to trickle in, jabbering about the summer and friends,
crushes, and other typical middle-school conversations. I wrote *Ms. Mary
Anne Spier* on the board. Five minutes later, the second bell rang and the
rest of the kids came pouring in with a noisy rush and scrambled to find
seats. I smiled softly at them and closed the door. I waited a few
minutes to let the talking naturally die down. I counted on their
curiosity about a new teacher and sure enough, they quieted down a minute
later as curiosity got the better of them since to them, I was a new
teacher in their school. I hoped my nervousness didn't show.
"Good morning, class," I introduced myself after clearing my throat. "I'm
Mary...Ms. Spier and I'm your homeroom teacher for this year. I'm glad to
have each of you as my students."
"G' moring..." H'llo..." Hiii..." "Mornun..." were some of the greetings.
"As a way of taking attendance this morning, why don't each of you go
around and say your name and tell us a little something about yourself..."
I pointed to a girl in the first row. Homeroom went smoothly for the most
part with no major disasters. If you count dropping a pile of chalk on the
floor minor. Once the bell rang, I thought, made it through one stage.
Next would be the English classes. The next few periods, I introduced
myself, then would have the students give their names and something that
interested them. Then the second half of each period, I would tell the
students in summary what we'd be covering during the year. I realized that
I'd have rushes of nervousness and clear my throat often. I tried to
control that, since I knew I sounded nervous. Some of the classes were a
bit rowdier than others, but they settled down enough for me to get
attendance and to talk. By the time lunch arrived, I was hungry, so I
headed straight to the lounge. Two other teachers were there and they
waved my over.
"How did you survive your first morning as a teacher?" Min Lerez asked as I
dug out my container of meatballs and put it into the microwave to heat up.
"All right," I told them as I sat. As we talked, I found out that Carol
Quynin had been here for five years and Min had been here for two.
"I was nervous when I first started too," Min told me. She was a few years
older than me and this was also her first teaching job. "The first day I
was here, one of my students put a fake huge spider in my desk and I
screamed so loudly I scared the class, then a lot of kids cracked up and I
was so mortified." Min took a sip of her soup.
"Oh, God," I dug into my meatballs. Carol grinned as she finished up her
salad, then headed back.
"Good luck," she called as she was leaving. Min and I ate and talked a
while more, than we had to head back to our afternoon classes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had just finished having the students introduce themselves when a boy,
Barry Ackle asked if he could use the bathroom. I nodded and waved him on,
so he went. I then started on what our program would be for the year. I
was handing out the outline when someone screamed. I turned to see Barry
stumble back into the room, blood running down the side of his face. I
stifled a scream myself.
"Oh, God!" I went over to him and I could hear students gasping and
murmuring behind me.
"Was he shot?" "Oh, shit..." "Where's the blood from?"
As I went over to try to find out from where he was bleeding, a little tube
fell from his shirt onto the floor and I looked down and realized that it
was *fake* blood. Some of the kids saw it and started to laugh. I let out
my breath in relief. Barry was grinning.
"Gotcha," he told me. I was shaking and a feeling of mortification at
being so duped came over me.
"Barry, go wash yourself off, then sit." I told him. He did, snickering
and rolling his eyes at me. Kids continued to laugh. I headed back to the
front and held up a hand for silence. To my embarrassment, my hand was
still shaking and to make matters worse, I swallowed involuntarily. Kids
continued to laugh and chatter on about the prank. I stood a minute, at a
loss of what to do.
"Class. Quiet now." I finally blurted out in a firm voice. That got their
attention and to my surprise, they quieted down to a few whispers. Barry
came back into class, gave me a smirk, then sat. I then continued with
going over what we'd study this year. At least my voice wasn't shaky.
Finally, the last bell rang and the kids booked out with a noisy jabber. I
let out my breath and slowly sat. I saw a girl lingering near my desk.
Sherry...Eikerson was her name, I think.
"Hey, Ms. Spier..." She stopped at my desk. "You did great. You handled
that prank well. Barry does at least one number on a teacher every first
day."
"Thanks." I was touched by her concern. So touched that after she left, I
closed the door to my classroom, sat at the desk and cried softly. As I
headed home later, I thought over the day and realized that it had been a
mix of bad and good. Despite my nervousness and some of the rowdier kids,
I found myself looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.
More later!