High School Introduction

Yesterday I was introduced to the classes that I will be taking over on Monday.  The science coordinator walked me up to the classroom and introduced me to the teacher, I'll call her Mrs. T.

Mrs. T teaches four periods of science classes and has first period and fifth period off.  Her students are rambunctious and like to talk.  Her students also absolutely adore her and are worried about what's going to happen when she leaves for the next few weeks.  Mrs. T is pretty awesome and I enjoyed meeting her and hanging out with her for the day.  She deals with her students well and knows when they're working and when they're just messing around.  She introduced me to each class of students and had each kid tell me his or her name and a fun fact about him or her.  I allowed the kids to ask me questions about myself and they got very creative!  One asked me who my favorite athlete is - I have no idea!  (For the record, I said Tom Brady).  Overall the students are nice, no one is a troublemaker, but they are super chatty.

The teacher and I decided to use her medical leave as leverage - the kids are very worried about her and want her to return as soon as possible.  Therefore I can threaten the kids, "Do you really want me to call Mrs. T and tell her how badly you're behaving right now?  She's already worried about you, do you really want to stress her out while she's in recovery?"  That will work, it already has since that's exactly what Mrs. T told the kids today.  They know that I'm in cahoots with their teacher and that I am going to name names if people are misbehaving.  I really liked the way Mrs. T handled her last day and the transition.

I'm nervous about Monday.  I'm actually teaching, not just babysitting.  There is subject matter I have to get through and homework that must get graded.  I'm in for a change.