The Beginning of School

Wow...what a start to school.  My first day was full of meeting my students and their parents, learning their names, and establishing routines.  Overall, I would say my first day went well.  I think my students walked away thinking that I would be a tough teacher and this year would not be easy (in my mind, that is a success).  Unfortunately, their thoughts of me being a tough teacher quickly diminished.  I found myself being too lenient when I needed to be firm and my students took advantage.  I took time this afternoon in my classroom to think about what I need to do to reestablish control in my classroom, and I think I have a plan...

The two biggest problems I am having in my classroom is transition time and walking in lines correctly.  During transitions, it can take over a minute for them to put away a journal and pull out a piece of paper.  To make this time shorter, I am going to give them a time limit and tell them if they can be ready in that amount of time, they get a point.  If they get 3 points in the day, I will work in an afternoon recess.  Since we don't typically have time in our schedule for afternoon recess, this will be a big motivator.  I am going to do something similar with walking in lines.  My hope is that will help remind them of the procedures we learned and give them something to work towards every day.

Blessings
24. The people who have given me advice on how to handle different situations in my classroom and have been praying for specific situations.
25. Caitlin and I have been invited over to different people's apartments for dinner.  It was really nice to have good company and delicious meals.
26. My church in Marion.  I was able to watch a sermon from a couple weeks ago this afternoon and it helped me bring everything back into focus.

Prayer Requests:
19. Pray that everything goes well and I am able to get my class back on track behavior wise.
20. I have one student who is pushing the boundaries more than any of the others.
21. My energy.  I feel worn out at the end of the day.  I hope that this will get better as my class gets better with their procedures.