Full Immersion Begins

This week was brutal.  It was the start of the new semester which for me equals a number of things:

1. My first time introducing myself to a class on the first day as their teacher.  This was hard!  I debated between how much to tell them about myself and what to say about why I was only going to be there for a few months (they tell us to take ownership over the classroom, but if the students know you are just the student teacher who is only going to be there for a limited time then they will walk all over you!)
2. I realized how much I still do not know about the school that I work in.  So many students had questions about what to do in certain situations and i had no idea what to tell them, I didn't even know the names of some of the staff members that they should talk to.  I know their faces, and I talk with them but when put on the spot I could NOT identify for the students who they were.  That was rough.
3. This was my first experience with younger grades.  Last semester I only had a grade 12 students in my two blocks of Law and they were awesome.  Well - by the end of last semester they were awesome, I had to earn my way with them as well  and they brought different challenges (attitude, engagement levels, etc).  Grade 9 and 10s are SIGNIFICANTLY different.  I knew this going in, in my head I knew that they would be different - but knowing something and experiencing it are two very different things.  I took it hard.  I had trouble keeping them focused, keeping their attention, keeping them quiet, asserting myself. In my grade 10 class I had to kick TWO boys out to have chats with them.  On the first day!  Though I've developed decent relationships with both of them since then (haha, over three days, we'll see how it goes).
4. Planning has consumed EVERY second of every day.  I have been sitting doing only things I enjoy for the last hour and it's the first time I've taken a break (it's been incredible).  I can't even write about it...literally every second planning and prepping.  SO much work getting ready for three different 80 minute classes everyday.

I had a lot of success last semester with my classes and methods, I was doing well on a consistent basis and feeling good at the end of the day - and I had free time!  The point of this is not to broadcast my personal successes but to say that this week has been hard on me in more ways than one.  Not only am I exhausted because I'm getting used to the new schedule and mornings, but I'm working hard the entire day and I feel emotionally defeated.  It has been hard for me to struggle through each class period.  I left the house on Wednesday just feeling awful - my roommates even commented on how down I looked.  I've had some minor successes since then, the last two days have been medium and I've been getting decent feedback from students but I still have a LOT of work to do before I can feel like I'm doing well.

Also a bitch ass hoe lady just came and yelled at us for parking in the visitor parking spots all the time.  She has a point because we do park there more often than most but NONE of us are parked there right now and she's yelling at us for taking up all the spots.  Idiot.  Also she sounds like she might have a retainer or be mentally handicapped.  I hate her.  B.A.H.