RAMBLINGS

I've got enough brain power tonight to assemble a handful of disjointed thoughts, so here we go:

Caleb is home safe and sound. When I returned to the house after school, he was fast asleep on the couch in the basement, posed like a little boy. Had to remind myself he's a young man just returned from his first real taste of military life. 

As for my first day with students, I can't complain. I also cannot call it my "first day of teaching". There was no time for teaching - just rules all the teachers were required to go over, period after period. 

Still, the students were relatively patient with it all and well-behaved today, but I got little glimpses of some big personalities. All students are so deceptively subdued in the beginning. Maybe I will be able to win some over before anything gets ugly. 

I have one student who has me for three straight periods every afternoon right after lunch: fourth period study hall, fifth period English, and 6th period writing class. (Odd scheduling is one of the charms of a small school.) I told him, "I sure hope we get along well!" and he replied, "Me too." (Fortunately, that third class rotates, so it will only be three periods straight the first two week of every quarter for him.) 

I made some changes to my classroom setup earlier this week and I am already seeing how much it will benefit me to have a work environment designed in a way to make systems flow as smoothly as possible. It was nice having a few days to make changes in the classroom as opposed to when I started in January and had no time to make the room my own. 

Judging from the first day, it will be a good year.