Poop-ed.

Well, today was the big first day. Three marvelous hours of teaching Algebra 1. Here's the shimmy:

Last week when I went in to get the last of my supplies, I was told I'll have 15-16 kids in my algebra 1 enriched class. I arrive early this morning to receive my roster. You wouldn't believe it...but there were 23 kids signed up. Mind, you this is 7:30 in the morning. 8 am rolls around. Class starts. I now magically have....26 kids in the class. What the freak!!! I was nervous about having 16, what the heck let's add 10 more students and see if I'll have a break down.

But I came prepared. I went through the 5 lessons I had planned out for the day. Luckily, the textbooks were brought in, so the kids could do their homework. Tomorrow will be a little bit different. We go over homework problems, then they take an exam. Yey, quiet time for me to make one more pass at the lesson plans for the day! Then, there is a 10 minute break. The last hour and 15 minutes, I present new material. Oh joyous day.

First impressions: The kids were good for the first day. I asked a lot of questions, and some of them were willing to step up and give me some answers. Not bad. I'm a little overwhelmed with the teaching. Don't get me wrong, I think this is where I want to be at some point or another. But...26 kids is a huge class. I would have been so much happier with 15. Not to mention, it probably wouldn't be so rough if I only had to cover one section of material a day. Three to five sections a day is tough. Making sure they get the necessary information, along with getting practice problems under their belts.

Tomorrow should be interesting. I have an hour and 15 minutes to cover...5 sections. Maybe they will be more talkative so as to make things run along smoother. I'm starting to feel nervous again. Maybe I should run through the sections again. Oi, it's tough doing this on top of looking for a job.

smooches to all...