First Day of School

Well I made it through my first day of teaching alone. I think I did an alright job, could have went better but definitely could of went worse too. I had five PE classes to teach today: Preschool, 4th/5th Grade, Pre-Kindergarten, 2nd Grade, and 1st grade. I went into the Preschool class at 8:15 to kids screaming and crying, parents everywhere, it was just mad chaos, poor Vicky. So my first PE lesson ever consisted of me helping to get the parents to leave and the children to stop crying and find a game or puzzle to play with. In that 40 minute “lesson” two kids threw up and one never stopped crying. It wasn’t how I envisioned my first PE lesson but I was glad to be in there and helping Vicky out, no one should have 15 3 year olds in a class.

So my first real lesson was my 4th/5th graders, there were only 6 of them so it was a small group, but overall they did a good job. I wanted to have fun with them but also go over the rules and when some of them started to talk out of turn or not lesson I made sure they knew that I was in charge. It was pretty cool to be in the classroom alone with the students, finally felt like I’m a teacher, pretty cool feeling. The rest of the lessons went pretty well too, the Pre-kindergarten class was pretty antsy but did a good job for not being able to move around.

If I haven’t mentioned yet I don’t have a gym or any outdoor space to use for PE. I’m in an empty classroom that has a sink in the corner (???), 4 ceiling fans, and the internet router stinking out of the wall. Also none of the equipment I ordered has come in. I’m using the stuff we bought from another school, which isn’t much. So my teaching creativity is being tested right from the start. I love the challenge but I’m so limited in that little classroom. I want to let the children run and do relays. I really hope that gym floor is put in soon. Please cross your fingers, that classroom gets loud.

After school we were all exhausted but I wanted to do something to celebrate my first day of teaching So Diane, Vicky, and I went and got some Thai food and then went to Zest, our home away from home. We got a 90 minute full body massage and 30 minute fish massage for $20 (with tip). And when I say full body massage, I mean full body massage, it was insane and probably the best massage ever. They did legs, arms, head, back, feet, butt, groin, oh yes. She was walking on my back and kneading it with her knees, I swear her legs could come in front of her arms, it was quite impressive. After, we went back to the “fish tank” for round two of trying to get rid of my heel. They made some more progressive on it tonight.  All in all it was a pretty good day, a long one but I made it through and treated myself to a great spa night.