The beginning of school is always an adventure. You have new class schedules, new students, and everything is, well, new. Even though a teacher may be seeing some of the same students, each school year is unique.
The first few days of school are always a challenge in a variety of ways. Nothing is settled or set in stone. You have class roster and schedule changes, you need to know when your lunch time is, you might be waiting for the books you ordered ages ago to arrive. Students come into your classroom at the wrong time. You think you have the seating chart *just right* and then someone else gets added to the roster, or someone drops one section and moves to the next. Even three or four weeks into the school year this kind of thing could happen.
I don't know if I'd say it's a tradition, but the first week or two of school is fun because recent graduates will come back during the lunch hour to visit. Often they are bringing lunch to friends or siblings who are still enrolled. Many of them just come back to visit. Here, we start classes about 2-3 weeks before most local universities begin, so these graduates have the spare time to come and visit. Most of the time it's really nice to see the graduates return, and sometimes it's kind of awkward. I think it's awkward because these kids were a part of the fabric of the school for four years, and now they're not. Sometimes I even feel uncomfortable around former students who I had a good relationship with. I guess it's mostly because when they are my students, the relationship makes more sense, but once they are older, I don't have a context to place them into.
What's interesting about these visits is that sometimes the students who return and those who don't return surprise me. Often the most involved, school-spirited, popular kids don't come back after they've graduated. Sometimes it's even those who have siblings or other relatives still attending. The opposite is also true. I've had really pleasant visits with some of those challenging students who've returned to visit, and I've been gratified to see that they (finally) appreciate their experience at our school.
A couple days ago I received a lovely email from a recent graduate. I had her twice during the school day last year, in my study hall and in English class. During my study hall, she would often ask to use some of the lotion I had at my desk. I keep "regular" lotion and a couple of varieties of Bath and Body Works scented lotion for my use, and I don't mind lending it to students. I don't know if I'm really allowed to do it, but I do anyway. She always used this one variety, and I decided to give her the lotion as a graduation gift. Unfortunately the scent was discontinued, so I purchased an empty container and put the remainder into it. I didn't think about this until after her graduation party, so I sent it to her this summer. In her thank you email, she told me that coming to my class made her feel less anxious about being at school, and that there was something about me that helped with that. I didn't realize she felt this way, and I was just interacting with her as I would with anyone. I didn't do anything special or go out of my way to treat her special. That made my day.
All in all, it's been a good start to the year. Not completely smooth sailing. I can tell my last period class is going to be a challenge. I have a pack of highly energetic freshmen and sophomores. They're all good kids, but they can be really charged up. Granted, I'm writing this at the end of a Friday with the first home football game. I think there are about 6 of the 20 in that class who are football players. That could explain their lack of focus today. We shall see. I may be spending more energy on these kiddos than the other 5 classes combined!
