Glass Half Empty - Amendments

My attitude about the beginning of the year has somewhat shifted since yesterday's post.  I will still continue to work on it, but it should be noted that I already read yesterday's writing with a bit of regret.  

I met my fresh crop of malleable brains today.  While I'm exhausted, I am pleased to say that day one went well.  My block classes are large but funny, and as we work on community building I can see that we are going to have a good year.  I hold hope for my single section and will continue to keep my fingers crossed that we'll have a better year than last year's seventh hour.  We shall see.  

There are a couple of reasons for my snark cloud lifting.  

First, I am always crabby when I'm anxious and yesterday, anxious I was.  Now that I've worked my way through that first day, the knot in my chest has loosened a bit.  

Second, I work with darn good people - better people than I, for they approached this morning with a lot more gusto than I had in me.  One of those people is my fantastic and incredibly dedicated teaching partner.  Without his instant injection of enthusiasm and genuine excitement to meet these 140 or so young people I would simply stew in my own puddle of doubt.  Thanks to him, I am instantly more enthused and ready to let go and join in the fun.   

This week is my favorite week of teaching because of the endless possibilities that each school year holds.  We have no bad habits, because habits have not yet been formed. We have no animosity, because we are all new to this game.  We talk about learning and throw around all of the idealist philosophy we've got.  And then we try.  And each year seems to get a little better.  A little more successful.  No matter what, I believe that there will be no backslide - at least not on my part.   We asked our students today what motivates them.  My answer was previous success.  Well, today was a success so I'll head toward HHS tomorrow with a little bit less of a chip on my shoulder.