First Week Teaching

Hi everyone!

I have finished my first week of teaching! Everything is going great-- the kids are really wonderful, and so is the staff. The only problem I'm having is memorizing 150 names with faces by open house next Thursday. I teach two periods of pre-algebra in the junior high (one period I co-teach with Meredith) and four periods of geometry.

The greatest classroom management tactic in the world is writing the student's seat number on the board. That has been awesome for controlling behavior. I haven't sent anyone to the office, just out into the hallway to cool off and think for a minute.

I also love having a "star of the week"-- every kid wants to be star of the week. I pick one in every class, and they get candy, pens/pencils, bathroom passes, or homework passes. One of the kids I picked was so surprised he was star of the week-- he had all his class materials in his arms which he threw up into the air in his excitement. His stuff went everywhere-- it was great.