First Day of School

I know people think we teachers have it all together...but the truth is, we are just about as nervous as the kids. Today was the first day of school and I have not been so nervous since the first day of my internship in college. I could not eat breakfast and I had knots in my stomach. The day went by in a blur. The periods came and the periods went and it was so fuzzy in my mind that I had to ask one or two classes, "Did I already tell you this?" And of course, they looked at me like I was a nut case.

It struck me that we are not so very different. Every emotion I experienced today was mirrored in the faces of many of the students. The lost ones wondering the halls...I understood how they felt. The ones who were still sleepy...I understood that. The poor kid who had no idea where anything was and was sprinting from class to class...I understood that emotion too. But, by the end of the day, I had that old familiar feeling of a job finished, of something crossed off the list. And more than ever, I felt like the kids understood the new rules and procedures of how the class will work and I felt like they got connected with their new classmates and with me very well. So, school days are here again...let the roller coaster ride begin!