Day 3/ First Day of School

The first day of school when the students came back went very well. I was definitely a little nervous to start with all of the students back, however the day went very smoothly. The first period of the day was an extended period with Mr. Carl's sophomore homeroom. I was able to assist Mr. Carl in passing out all of the students information. The class behaved very well and it was a laid back environment that allowed the students to relax, while still getting all of the information that they needed. I was able to talk to some of the students in the class and get to know them. It was a good start to the first day that allowed me to warm up to the students and get ready for the rest of the classes. 

During Plan period I went over my PowerPoint that introduced myself to the class and helped Mr. Carl get everything ready for the class. Our first class of the day is regular honors history class and the period is split. Half of the time is spent in class, then the students break for lunch, and then the students return for the final half of class. My introduction PowerPoint went well and I helped to make comments and observe Mr. Carl talk about feeling and experiencing history. The students seemed to enjoy the artifacts that Mr. Car passed around and his introduction on experiencing the history. The last half of the class was a review of the Civil War. I can tell that this period could be a little challenging based on the timing. It seems like the first half of the class a lot of the students have lunch time on their mind and nothing else. While the second part of the class some students have that "after lunch fog" about them. Focus and motivation might be a little harder in this class, but it is something I want to work on with Mr. Carl in the future. Overall though the class went very well. 

The last class was also a regular freshman history class. The class was small, but I thought the students seemed even more focused on the material and I felt I made a few more personal connections with the students during my introduction presentation. The class seemed into the artifacts portion of the period and followed along well during the review. 

Tomorrow, I am very interested to start with the Honors History classes and see how they differ as well as experience the higher level of understanding that can be explored. I am also very excited to start with the Feel the History documentary class. I think it is going to be a great opportunity to be a facilitator and the type of work that is done in this class is something I hope to be able to use in some way in my future classroom. I am also taking a step to getting more involved with the school by meeting with the assistant athletic director to help out during home varsity football games.