August 18, 2009

First Day of School!

Official first day of school today and I'm a real life teacher. Weird. And exciting!!

Maggie and I started off the day by waking up on time (yay!), eating a delicious pastry we bought for breakfast (yay!), and making it to the bus on time (yay!). Note: Stay posted as we predict we will miss the bus no less than 3 times this year and I'm sure the stories those days will be eventful.

My school operates on a block schedule, which means there are five 70 minute periods each day, but then the schedule rotates. I do not see every class every day, but instead see each class 5 times in each 8 day cycle. (It's about as confusing as it sounds, but I think I'll get it someday...)

Here's what my school days will look like:
5:30/5:45 Wake up, realize it's dark outside...hit snooze at least once
6:20 Goal time to leave apartment
6:22-6:25 Actually leave apartment
6:28 Ride on bus with awkward arm rests that are not movable
6:50 Arrive in classroom

7:30-8:40 Period 1
8:45-9:55 Period 2
9:55-10:25 Break (Aka eat snacks and/or half my lunch because I'm starving)
10:25-11:35 Period 3
11:40-12:50 Period 4
12:50-1:30 Lunch (For a whole 40 minutes...which is pretty much un-heard of in the U.S.)
1:30-2:30 Period 5

2:30-3:20 Solid 50 minutes to finish things in the classroom before going home
3:30 Bus leaves school to go home!

Today I only had two classes, which was lovely, but also kind of a slow start to things. Tomorrow, as is typical after having a two period day, I will have a four period day. Thus far my students seem fun and excited to be in school, which is great.

Amusing note from today: During question and answer session where I let the kids ask questions to get to know me, one boy asked if I was pregnant. I responded with "Do I look pregnant??" His face got really red and all the others kids laughed. But I just explained that no, I will not be having a child anytime soon, thanks for asking. In his defense, lots of teachers at the school are having kids or just had a kid so I guess it's pretty typical. Also, he apoligized to me after class which was super cute. :)

In summary...guess I better hop on that yoga train and not eat very many pastries. More updates tomorrow!

4 comments:

kirsten said...

do i look pregnant?!?! that is such a classic kristin response! i'm glad you had such a great first day as a teacher!!!

Nicole said...

SAD!! You said 'do I look pregnant!!?' the kid is going to be scared of you all year now!! :) ( I secretly love that you said it though - woulda done the same thing)

congrats on 1 day down only 2000 to go:)

Ashley said...

You're school schedule sounds similar to the one I had when I first started high school. I can't really remember the details but I do remember that some days I would have a class twice (it was always nice when we had lunch break in between, otherwise we had what we called a "double period") and then there were days where we wouldn't have a certain class (we also had a late start every Thursday so this might factor into the strange scheduling).

You might be able to start your own edition of "Kids say the darnedest things". They really do and at least you handle it well. :-)

Katie said...

I am jealous of your 40 minute lunch, but not of your 7:30 start time. That's a long day! 5 blocks for 70 minutes! Sheesh!

Related Posts with Thumbnails