First day of class

Do you remember those first days of school?  That nervous, stomach churning feeling?  Unsure of what it might be like, unsure if you'll fit in... Tonight I was nervous for the first class of my adult community class.  I'm not quite sure why I felt so nervous, but I tend to get that way with firsts.  I think it's anxiety--good and bad, anxious (looking forward) for the class to begin, but also feeling anxious (scared) about not knowing anyone.  I called my mom and Frank both for a little pep talk.  I had planned everything for the class and was actually looking forward to it and had talked about the new class with my Access students (and partner teacher) who all want to help out with the class at some point, so I'm not sure why I felt so nervous with so much preparation and support.  But, I guess it's just one of those firsts, one of the unknowns, change perhaps.  I'm a creature of habit, so change is hard. 

Anyway, things went pretty well.  It's always a little slow and quiet to being with but then we got a little more familiar with each other and were able to laugh.  I only knew one of the students--one who helped set up the class and everything--but all of the students knew each other.  I guess that's a good thing, but it totally ruined my "get to know you activity" I had planned for the first 15-20minutes.  Oops!  I didn't know that they were all from a group at their church, but at least they were all comfortable with each other and didn't have too much trouble practicing English pronunciation in front of each other (there were still a few giggles though). 

A few things could have gone better: I started writing in permanent marker on the board (because we had been using markers to make nametags), but quickly dropped that marker and cleaned up the mess (if you write over the permanent marks with a dry-erase pen, then erase, it removed the permanent ink too); then when I was using the dry-erase pens, they didn't want to erase either so I had black smudges all over the board...ugh!  Good thing I brought my water bottle.  So, I used crumpled up pieces of notebook paper and poured some water on them to dampen them, and then cleared off a portion of the board that I wanted to use.  Well, that was annoying, but nothing to cry over.

The students were all really nice and we had some good laughs.  I really enjoyed the first class and I hope that we can continue in this manner.  There were only 8 students tonight because 2 (or 3) of them had to work, but they asked one of the students to ask me if they could still come Thursday.  Hope they do :)

Alright, well now that it's already 9pm and I feel pretty exhausted, I gotta get some sleep because tomorrow is my early day.  Oh, there just went my alarm to tell me to get to bed--yes, I set an alarm to tell me to go to bed.  I'm that "organized".  You were probably thinking of different word, but I'm just going to stay positive and say it's a good quality ;)