Chess Club

Today during homeroom, I suffered my first loss in chess to a student. It was great. I'm going to start a chess club.

Ben suggested that we write an entry about how the begining of this year is different from the start of last year. First, let me say how they are the same. I am exhausted, and was equally exhausted this time last year. I am not less exhausted the second time around. I'm just doing more.

Last year at this time, I was teaching 3 classes (2 preps), plus the MTC work. This year, in addition to all of that, I'm coaching football and about to start a chess club. So I'm still as exhausted, if not more exhausted. This year, though, I'm just a little more efficient, and more of the work that I do actually seems to have some sort of result.

I spent more time this year on rules and procedures, although not quite intentionally. I planned to do a day and a half of rules and procedures, but once I had written up all my procedures, I realized it was going to take longer. I let that take the whole first day, half the second day, half the third, and probably 10 minutes of the fourth and fifth. There was a lot of repetition, which was great, because I had new students continually showing up for the class. In fact, today, on the eighth day of school, I had another student show up for my Algebra II class. She had been out of town, in Kansas. But because the new students kept arriving, it gave me a good excuse to review rules and procedures, without the kids feeling like I thought they were stupid.

I've enjoyed my kids so much more. Part of it is knowing them, and knowing how to deal with them and talk to them. I didn't realize that I had even gained anything in this regard until I started talking to a fellow MTC-er, a first year teaching in my school, who said she just doesn't know how to talk to the kids, not in class, but in the cafeteria, the hallway, wal-mart, etc. As we were talking, I realized that I did know how to do that, and did it unconciously all the time. My favorite parts of the day are often interactions I have in the hallway or cafeteria with students or former students or kids who have never taken my class but who know me somehow. It's definitely something I could not do last year.

Plus, Big Delta is run so much better this year. The new head principal, new associate principal on my campus, and assistant principal back from surgery this year have made all the difference. The climate is changing, slowly. Right now, all we have is a better run jail, but I can feel that we are going to start running school soon. No fights, I've written one referral, and I hand out detentions like candy for the smallest infractions. No homework, no problem, here's your detention. No textbook, no problem...

The biggest difference, though, is that I am happy. I love my kids. I like my job. I had a great summer at home and was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with a lot of people who are very important to me. If I say any more about being happy, though, I might jinx myself. I'm just exhausted.