I have just completed week 2. I spent this summer remembering why I became a teacher and refreshing my toolkit with strategies that are in line with my beliefs and teaching philosophy. I found out, or relearned, that the most important thing about the beginning of school is not only the teaching of procedures, but the teaching to each and every student that school is a place where they can be safe, accepted, understood, and valued. Tone is very important, even more than words. If your tone shows that you respect your students, the words, although carefully chosen, become secondary. This is what I have learned this week. Don't hang your students out to dry or throw them under the bus, even when they seem to deserve it. Instead, help them fit in, help them save face, teach them the correct way to respond to the trials and social confusion caused by so many immature bodies in a small space and so many grownup demands on their time, motion, and ideas. This isn't new to me. In fact, it is a bit like coming home after the past two crazy, grueling years of this redesigned school trying to find itself amidst the unbearable pressure of school turn around and all of the other small and large tragedies of life.
The first six weeks of first grade is a review of Kindergarten, so we have been reviewing Kindergarten sight words, one of which is the word "my."
Me: Okay, this word is my. Can you think of a way we use the word my? (I was ready to fill in, if no one had any ideas, with "My name is _______.")
La'Brian: Pimp my ride!
Now, how are you going to argue with that?!
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