Tomorrow my students come back. I'm excited about the school year because this year I finally have my own classroom, sort of. I've got three sections of mass media in the year and two of them are in first semester. I begged the newly promoted principal to let me have my English 12 class in my computer lab too, and he said yes!
I got so excited I put up a bulletin board. It has a border, and colorful construction paper-backed quotes, and a space for all the changing information I'm required to post when the administration sends it out. I haven't had my own bulletin board in six years. There's no particular reason that I should be this thrilled, but I am.
The first day of school is a unique experience that's repeated over and over, which seems to create an oxymoron: unique repetition, but it's true. Every year there's a hope that the students will miraculously transform from hormone filled twerps into young adults who eloquently express profound thought and proclaim me the most inventive and wonderful teacher to ever educate in the history of the world.
Inevitably, at the end of the day, I'm glad they didn't cause me bodily harm because my brain's so fried that I couldn't take two problems at once.
Maybe this year will be different. Since I'm teaching seniors and have my creative outlet not once, but twice, maybe this will be MY year. All the hours and hours of organizational preparation that I put into coming up with a class that encompasses actual media instead of just finishing the yearbook will translate into a smoothly running, deadline-meeting machine. The other teachers in the school will actually read the email I sent out to accompany the name list they got in their homeroom packet and will turn it back in completed correctly and I won't have to chase down any students. Betty will wear clothing that covers all her body parts.
They may seem like simple dreams, but they're mine. You may mock me, but this career is a calling. I'm pretty sure you have to be mentally damaged to hear it, but teaching calls you.
Perhaps I should try a tin foil helmet. I'll let you know tomorrow.
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